Harry Potter: Identity
by Bear12
Summary: Who was he? His parents had named him Harry Potter but he'd been called Adam for as long as he could remember. Did it actually matter? He didn't want to think about what would happen if the world found out that Harry Potter was alive.
1. Prologue

_Author's Notes:_

_Welcome to the fourth book in the series: Identity._  
_You **must** have read the previous books in the series: Lost, Connections and Revelation, for this to make sense_

* * *

**July 20th 1995  
Albania**

As Peter slowly began dismantling the small camp that he had been in living in, he thought back over the events of the last few weeks.

Once he had been forced to flee Hogwarts, he had searched out any rumour of his Master's presence.

That night in 1981 he'd felt the cold wind, which he knew now to be his Masters spirit leaving the Potter's home. After overhearing a conversation, while out scuttling around the castle one night several years ago, he had put it all together. He knew that the Master wasn't gone. He knew that he only had to bide his time until the Master would return.

Peter had only been mistaken about one thing; he had not planned on being the one to bring about the Master's return.

His first clue to his Masters whereabouts was a rumour, overheard in Knockturn alley, of a dark spirit living in Albania. Upon hearing this, Peter decided to investigate. Any place that held even a rumour of his Master's presence was worth investigating. The Master would reward those that were loyal to him.

Peter had stopped only to retrieve the Master's wand, which he had hidden at his house all those years ago. Amazingly it was still there. After all, no one had bothered to search the house of the poor victim. Framing Sirius was his greatest achievement. He still felt a sense of smug satisfaction that, as long as he avoided capture, the Ministry would continue to hunt Sirius.

Once he had arrived in Albania, Peter's investigations led him to a forest. He entered the forest cautiously.

His Master's spirit had found him only days later.

Several days after his first encounter with the Master, Nagini had found them. Peter didn't know if this was by chance, or if the Master had summoned her.

Peter had then been ordered to milk the snake to provide a supply for the Master's use.

Peter's next task had been to provide the Master with a rudimentary body. Following the Master's instructions, Peter had soon pulled the rudimentary host from the cauldron. Once housed in his new, albeit temporary, body, Peter had fed him.

The Master, now with a body again, had immediately demanded his wand. He had demanded Peter tell him about Harry Potter. Peter had told him everything. In turn the Master told Peter how he had fallen that night. How the Killing Curse had rebounded off Potter and separated his spirit from his body.

The next step had occurred completely by chance. Peter had stumbled upon an employee from the Ministry of Magic, Bertha Jorkins. The foolish woman apparently holidayed in this area every year. He had Stunned her and brought her back to the Master.

Peter had listened as the Master extracted information from the captive.

The Master was silent for many days, only calling Peter when his feeble body needed to be fed. He was considering his plan.

The plan was simple. Potter had unmade him. Potter would make him again. But to get Potter they would need to return to England.

Peter finished the final preparations and went to fetch the Master and Nagini, ready for the first leg of their long journey.  
**  
August 15th 1995**

It had taken three weeks to get from Albania to England. Three weeks of short distance Apparition. Three weeks of constant milking and feedings, but at last they had reached their destination.

Once they had returned to England, the Master directed them to a small village. Peter had never been there before. Once they arrived in the village, the Master ordered him to take him to the largest house in the village. It was situated on a hill. The Master called it the Riddle house.

The house itself was dusty and dirty, but that didn't bother Peter. He opened doors, following the Master's instructions. The Master directed him through the house until he reached the specific room the Master desired. When he entered the room he set the Master down in a large chair and lit the fire.

Peter looked around, Nagini had gone. The snake must have slipped away at some point during their trek through the house.

Some time later, after the Master had been fed, the snake slithered in through the door to the room.

"Nagini has interesting news, Wormtail," the Master said.

"In-indeed, My Lord?" Peter replied.

"Indeed, yes," said the Master. "According to Nagini, there is an old Muggle standing right outside this room, he must have seen us enter."

Peter walked across to the door and flung it open.

A man was standing there, leaning on a walking stick.

"Invite him inside, Wormtail. Where are your manners?"

Peter beckoned the man into the room.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Muggle?" said the Master.

"What's that you're calling me?" the Muggle responded defiantly.

"I am calling you a Muggle," replied the Master coolly. "It means that you are not a wizard."

"I don't know what you mean by wizard," said the Muggle, his voice growing steadier. "All I know is you're trespassing on private property! You must leave or I'll call the police."

Peter heard the Master laugh.

"Nobody knows you are here. You told nobody that you were coming. Lord Voldemort knows … he always knows.…"

"Is that right?" said the man roughly. "Lord, is it? Well, I don't think much of your manners, My Lord. Turn around and face me like a man, why don't you?"

"But I am not a man, Muggle," said the Master. "I am much, much more than a man. However … why not? I will face you. Wormtail, come turn my chair around."

Peter walked forward and began to turn the chair. He heard Nagini hiss.

Peter watched in smug satisfaction as the Muggle dropped his walking stick with a clatter when he saw the Master. There was a flash of green light, and the Muggle crumpled to the floor.

"Wormtail, transfigure the body into some innocuous object and bury it. Then go down to his house and make it appear he packed and left. He was a lonely man, an outcast. No one will notice that he is missing," the Master ordered.

Peter left do do the Master's bidding. He would do what he was best at. He would do what he was told.


	2. Chapter 1

**Tonks  
June 26th 1995**

Tonks was sitting in her cubicle in the Auror offices of the Ministry of Magic. Despite having worked as an Auror for just under a year now, Tonks still sometimes couldn't believe that she'd actually done it. She was now doing the job she had dreamed of doing since she had been at Hogwarts. She was a fully qualified Auror with her own cubicle.

Currently Tonks was working on a case. A young child had gone missing, in what was suspected to be a kidnapping. Cases like this would normally be dealt with by the MLE. However, as the family lived in a Muggle area, the Aurors had become involved.

A tapping noise behind her attracted Tonks' attention.

"Auror Tonks," said Rufus Scrimgeour, the head Auror, as he leaned into her cubicle.

Tonks swivelled around to face him and replied politely. "Yes, sir?"

He tossed a sealed envelope down onto her desk. "A priority executive memo came for you."

"T-Thanks sir," Tonks said hesitantly. A priority memo only came from the Minister's Office or the Wizengamot. _What did they want with her?_

Once Scrimgeour had left, Tonks ripped open the envelope and read the letter.

_Nymphadora Tonks,_

I am writing to you to request your assistance in a matter that has arisen. Would you please meet me at your flat at 5pm today? Leave your front door open. This business requires some amount of discretion, so please do not discuss this with anyone and destroy this memo once you have read it.

Yours,  
Albus Dumbledore.

Tonks checked the signature on the letter. It was definitely Professor Dumbledore's. Even so, the signature was largely irrelevant; if it wasn't from Professor Dumbledore then it wouldn't have been sent as an executive memo. Satisfied that the memo was genuine, Tonks burnt it as instructed. Her curiosity was piqued; what did Professor Dumbledore want?

When Tonks arrived back at her flat after work that evening, she unlocked the front door and, leaving it slightly ajar, walked into her flat. She wandered into the kitchen and started cooking her dinner.

She was soon disturbed from her work by a cough coming from the direction of her living room. _Here we go then_, thought Tonks.

Tonks walked into her living room and looked around. Sitting alone in the middle of the room was a giant shaggy black dog. _What the hell?_ She stumbled backwards and quickly withdrew her wand, preparing to defend herself.

"It is perfectly safe, Nymphadora_," _said a voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

As she glanced wildly around looking for the source of the voice, Professor Dumbledore shimmered and appeared in the middle of her living room.

"Professor Dumbledore!" she exclaimed.

"Good evening, Nymphadora; I hope you will excuse me bringing my friend here. May I sit?"

"Sure," Tonks replied, feeling slightly flustered. "And please call me Tonks."

They both sat down and the dog curled up at her feet.

"I didn't know you had a dog?" she questioned.

Professor Dumbledore laughed softly. "He is not so much my pet, more of an acquaintance."

Tonks nodded dumbly, now completely baffled.

"Now for the reason that I came," began Professor Dumbledore. "It is in regards to your extended family."

"I don't have an extended family," Tonks replied coldly.

"But you are related to the Blacks," Professor Dumbledore stated.

Tonks gave a short laugh. "Some good it does me. They disowned my mum. Two out of three of them are in Azkaban, oh, well, obviously Sirius isn't there anymore."

"It is Sirius that I wanted to discuss with you," Professor Dumbledore paused. "I have recently come into possession of some compelling evidence that convinces me he is innocent."

"Really?" Tonks asked incredulously.

"Yes, unfortunately I am unable to present this evidence to the Ministry, so there is no way to get him acquitted."

"So what do you need?" asked Tonks. If Professor Dumbledore was convinced of Sirius' innocence, then perhaps she should at least hear him out.

Instead of answering Professor Dumbledore gestured to the large black dog. The dog immediately began growing rapidly in size. Soon it was tall enough to right itself onto two feet. Then, standing in front of her was a man she had could only ever remember seeing in wanted posters, Sirius Black.

"Tonks," Black said softly.

Tonks sat frozen in shock. Standing in front of her was the criminal at the top of the Ministry's most wanted list, but then she had just been told by _the_ Albus Dumbledore that he was innocent.

"I didn't do it, Tonks. I was framed. The Ministry never even gave me a trial," Sirius continued urgently.

That got Tonks' attention. "No trial?" She questioned.

"No," Professor Dumbledore replied gravely. "Alas at that time, in the wake of Voldemort's downfall, the Ministry were keen to imprison all suspected Death Eaters and close the case on Voldemort for good. Sirius never had a trial, nor did he have the chance to testify under Veritaserum."

"That's outrageous!" Tonks exclaimed. The Ministry had completely bypassed the justice system and imprisoned an innocent man!

Professor Dumbledore only nodded in response.

"What do you need?" she questioned.

"I need somewhere to lay low for a few days and some help in setting up a place of my own," replied Sirius.

Tonks weighed up her options; technically she should arrest Sirius Black here and now, but, with Albus Dumbledore present, she had no doubt that if she tried to arrest Black, she would end up with no memories of ever meeting him.

"Okay, I'll help you," she stated. "...On one condition. I want to know the full story."

Black and Professor Dumbledore looked at each other and, coming to a silent agreement, they launched into to their story.

**July 1st 1995**

"Come on, Padfoot," Tonks called as she walked down the street that Sirius had directed her to.

The street did not look impressive to Tonks. It seemed to be inhabited mainly by Muggles and the houses looked dirty and uninviting. She wrinkled her nose as she passed the bags full of rubbish that were piled outside of number 10.

Sirius ran ahead of her and proceeded to sit, panting, in front of number 12. This house looked particularly dismal; while all the windows were intact, they were filthy and covered in dirt. The paint on the lintel above the door and on the door itself was flaking away. Tonks and Sirius climbed the steps towards the front door. Once they reached the top, Sirius ran straight up to the front door and, sitting down on his hind legs, he placed his front paws on the door. The door began to glow slightly and Sirius yelped encouragingly. Taking this as the signal, Tonks moved forwards and pushed the door open.

Tonks and Sirius entered the house, the place was dirty. _No_, thought Tonks. _Absolutely filthy_. Once the door was closed, Sirius transformed back into himself.

"Home sweet home," he commented dryly.

"A BLOOD TRAITOR!!! A TRAITOR TO THIS FAMILY!! BACK IN THIS NOBLE HOUSE!!" a voice screamed through the house.

Sirius paused, a look of horror stricken across his face.

"N-N-No," he stuttered. "She's dead."

"What?" Tonks asked.

"TRAITOR!!!" the voice screamed again.

"It's coming from this direction," Tonks said as she carefully pointed her wand in the direction of the voice.

Tonks walked towards the voice. In the dark she couldn't see where it was coming from.

"HALF-BREED! BLOOD TRAITORS!!!"

Tonks leapt backwards in shock as the voice screeched from right in front of her. She nearly stumbled over a nearby umbrella stand as she rushed to bring her wand to bear on the owner of the voice.

When she saw what was making the noise she relaxed. She couldn't believe she had missed something so obvious.

"Sirius, it's just a portrait," she called back to Sirius, who was still lurking near the front door.

"Thank Merlin," Sirius replied sounding very relieved.

"Who is it?" Tonks asked.

"It's my mother," Sirius shuddered. "Horrible woman."

The portrait screamed at Sirius again.

"SHUT UP!" he roared back at it. "Let's go upstairs," he said turning to Tonks.

Tonks and Sirius continued up the stairs to the very top floor of the house. Sirius pushed open one of the doors and led Tonks into a room. Tonks noticed the room was, like the rest of the house, in a disgusting state. However, Tonks could see the remains of decorations in faded Gryffindor colours.

"This was my room as boy," Sirius stated. "I guess this is where I'll start making this place livable."

Sirius pulled out a wand and began to slowly Vanish the dust from the bed.

"Wait!" Tonks exclaimed. "Where did you get a wand from?"

"Professor Dumbledore.... don't ask where from," Sirius chuckled, as he continued working on cleaning the room.

To Tonks, Sirius suddenly looked very tired as he worked to slowly clean up his old room.

"I've got a few hours before I'm due at work," Tonks said brightly, trying to cheer him up. "I'll give you a hand."

Sirius smiled gratefully and together they began removing the dust from his bedroom.  
**  
Adam  
July 10th 1995**

Adam moved slowly down the stairs of the Burrow and was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he entered the kitchen.

"Happy Birthday, dear!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed when she saw him.

The sound of her voice jolted Adam to full wakefulness. He glanced around the kitchen, and discovered Mrs Weasley was the only person there. Obviously, he was the first one up again. The sight of a small pile of wrapped presents on the table made his heart jolt. He knew that the Weasley family wasn't that well off, but time after time they seemed to come through for him. He wasn't even part of the family, but they still treated him like one of their own.

Adam opened and closed his mouth, desperately searching for words to use. "Oh, Mrs. Weasley... You... You... don't," he finally stuttered.

"It's fine, dear," Mrs Weasley replied with a warm smile. "We wanted to give you gifts."

"Thanks!" Adam exclaimed, still staring at the presents.

What was even worse was that he was still lying to the entire family. He hadn't yet told anyone about the revelations Dumbledore had thrust upon him at the end of the last school year. Not even Ginny.

Adam had, over the first few weeks of the summer, begun to accept it. In his mind whatever name he called himself, it didn't really change who he was. However, he was still much more comfortable with _Adam_. He could imagine what would happen if everyone found out that Harry Potter was, in fact, alive. He would probably be in the papers, and everyone would treat him like some sort of hero. They might even have some sort of parade for him. It would be awful. He wasn't a hero; he was just Adam, a boy who just wanted to go to Hogwarts and learn magic.

Even though he had begun to accept the truth about his past, Adam still felt anger when he thought about how Dumbledore and Professor Lupin had lied to him for two years. To be honest, he blamed Dumbledore more than Professor Lupin because Dumbledore had been the one pulling the strings. It was quite ironic, Adam thought. If Dumbledore had told him as soon as he found out, then Adam would probably have agreed to keep it a secret. It was the fact that Dumbledore had kept it a secret from _him_ that made him so angry.

He had decided that he would tell Ginny his secret. If anyone deserved to know it was her. Plus, he sometimes felt that it would burn him up inside if he didn't have anyone to talk to about it. Maybe he would tell her today...

"Are you alright, Adam?" Mrs Weasley asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine," Adam replied with a smile.

"Alright, dear. You've seemed a bit down the last few weeks," Mrs Weasley continued.

"Oh, I'm fine," Adam repeated quickly. "It's just what happened at school shook me up a bit."

"Oh, yes. That horrible business with Sirius Black," Mrs Weasley replied, with a touch of anger in her voice. "I hope they catch him soon."

In order to cover up what had happened that night and enable Sirius to be hidden, Dumbledore had come up with a story that Sirius had attacked Adam, Ginny and Ron when they spotted him lurking in near the stadium during the Third Task. The story so far had seemed to work, although it did somewhat rely on Ron's ability to keep a secret.

Adam was disturbed from his thoughts by someone who was far too excitable racing into the room and giving him a hug. He burst out laughing.

"What?" Ginny asked with her arms crossed.

"Nothing," Adam said, still laughing. "I was just thinking that I hope it's Ginny hugging me and not Ron."

"Prat," she giggled as she pulled out a chair and sat down. "Happy Birthday!"

Once the rest of the Weasleys had arrived for breakfast, and at Mrs Weasley's insistence, Adam proceeded to open his presents. Mr and Mrs Weasley had gotten him a brand new set of quills and ink, Ron had given him a box of chocolates and the twins had given him a set of their home made joke products, which Adam quickly hid out of sight after mouthing a thank you across the table. Adam had saved Ginny's present for last. He opened the parcel and examined the contents. It seemed to be a set of thin leather strips which were woven together to form a large circle. Adam turned it over in his hand desperately trying to work out what exactly it was. Then it hit him. _It's meant to go around my wrist!_

Adam looked up and saw Ginny staring at him anxiously. He quickly slipped her present about his wrist and smiled widely at her.

"It's awesome!" Adam said excitedly.

Ginny beamed back at him.

Once breakfast was finished, Adam began to help Mrs Weasley clean up, as he usually did, but instead she announced. "No chores today, Adam. It's your birthday and I need you out of the kitchen because I'm going to cook you a special birthday dinner tonight!"

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley, there's...."

"Don't argue! Now go on enjoy the day!" she replied, still smiling widely.

Adam felt buoyant after his presents and the promise of a special birthday dinner, whatever that meant, so he decided today would be the day he would do it. He might not be in such good spirits tomorrow or the day after.

"Ginny, do you reckon we could sneak off for a bit?" he whispered once they had left the kitchen.

Ginny giggled. "Keen aren't you?" she responded.

Adam blushed bright red, that wasn't what he'd meant. "No, I erm.... I want to tell you something, about last year."

Realisation dawned on Ginny's face. "Okay," she replied. "We can go sit by the pond. That way we can see if anyone comes."

They walked together to the pond and sat down on the edge of the water. They faced the house so they could see if any of the others tried to approach. Adam was beginning to feel incredibly apprehensive about telling Ginny. What would she think? A vision swam through his mind of Ginny yelling at him and telling him she never wanted to speak to him again_. No she wouldn't do that to me,_ Adam thought, desperately trying to convince himself.

"So?" Ginny questioned, once they had sat down by the pond.

"Um," Adam replied lamely.

He felt Ginny squeeze his hand. "Go on..."

Adam swallowed. "You know when Professor Dumbledore called me into his office the day after what happened in the shack?"

Ginny nodded.

"Well, he told me that he sent Professor Lupin out to find out about me during our second year." Adam paused. "Oh, and do you remember that blood test?"

"Yeah, didn't he say that he couldn't tell from it who your parents were?"

"Well, turned out he lied about that. He and Professor Lupin have known about my parents for two years and didn't tell me."

"What!" Ginny cried. "That's awful! How could they do that to you! They know how much you have wanted to know about them!"

Adam nodded. "I was so angry with them," he recalled, blushing. "I think I broke some things in Professor Dumbledore's office."

"Serves him right!" Ginny snapped. "But... but did they tell you in the end about your parents?"

Adam sighed. "I really don't know how to say this..."

Ginny squeezed his hand.

"Do you remember the story you told me about how You-Know-Who was defeated?" Adam asked.

"Yeah," Ginny replied, sounding confused. "He killed the Potters and somehow in the process he died. But what's that got to do with you?"

"Apparently..." Adam paused. "...I'm Harry Potter."

Ginny simply stared at him. "What?" she cried, gaping.

Adam nodded in reply.

"Adam, you can't believe that!" she cried, suddenly leaping to her feat and beginning to pace, waving her arms in the process. "The Potters are all dead! Everyone knows that!"

"Ginny...." Adam said pleadingly. "I didn't believe it at first either, but...." His voice broke a bit. "The blood test showed that it's true."

Ginny paused and just seemed to stare at him.

"Adam.... oh, Adam!" she blurted, and practically jumped back onto the ground next to him and pulled him into a hug.

"Professor Dumbledore thinks that after my mum and dad were killed, Peter Pettigrew took me from the house. He must have changed my appearance, because it seems that I look nothing like Harry Potter. He then dumped me in some bushes. Apparently, I was named by the staff in the hospital. You know, where I was taken when I was found," Adam continued rapidly, desperately trying to explain himself.

Ginny was sniffling now as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Oh....," she replied, in a faint voice. Then, suddenly, she raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. "Don't you dare! I know what you're thinking! I'm not going to run off and tell you I don't want to be your friend anymore!"

_She did know him too well._

"Does this really change anything, though? You're still Adam to me," Ginny continued.

"Thanks, Ginny" Adam replied. _She understood!_ "Professor Dumbledore wants me to keep it a secret... supposedly for my protection."

"Okay, so we don't tell anyone else. Who else knows?" Ginny queried.

"Professor Dumbledore, Professor Lupin, Sirius Black, you and me."

"That's all?" Ginny replied.

"Yes, imagine what would happen if people found out."

"They'd be all over you," Ginny said grimly. "Okay, secret then."

"Ginny..." Adam began, suddenly feeling rather self-conscious. "Thanks so much, you've... you're amazing."

Ginny winked at him. "I know."

"It really doesn't matter to you?" Adam asked meekly.

"Nope, you're still Adam to me,"

"Thanks..." said Adam faintly. He still couldn't believe it had been this easy to tell her.

Adam watched as Ginny sat next to him, seemingly lost in her thoughts. He could understand that. It was a lot to take in.

"Why did this even happen to you?" Ginny mused, finally breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we all know that he attacked your mum and dad."

Adam nodded in response.

"But why did he?"

Adam paused. "I have no idea."

"We could ask Professor Dumbledore when we go back to Hogwarts?" Ginny suggested.

Adam nodded. "Or there may be something in the library there that will tell us," Adam mused.

"Great," said Ginny. "It's something to keep us occupied at least."

Adam nodded in return.

"Right," Ginny continued, jumping to her feet. "It's your birthday."

"Actually, it's not," Adam replied with a smirk.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Well it is. Do you actually know what day Harry Potter was born on?"

"Erm... No."

"And I think it would certainly make mum suspicious if you decided to move your birthday!"

"Ah."

"So today is your birthday and I think relaxation is order," She held out her hand to him.

Adam clasped her hand in his and let her pull him to his feet. As the two of them walked hand in hand back towards the Burrow, he felt as if a giant weight had been lifted off his shoulders.  
**  
Ginny  
July 20th 1995**

Ginny lay on the sofa thinking. She'd been doing a lot of that recently. Much to her joy, since Adam had told her his secret, he had seemed much happier. It still bemused her how Adam could think, after all they've been through together, that she would suddenly up and decide that she no longer wanted to be his friend or girlfriend. When she thought over what he had told her, she was surprised to realise that she didn't really care. Adam had no memories of his parents or of the time when he was _Harry_. So what did it matter?

What Ginny could understand quite easily was why Adam wanted it to be kept a secret. She'd had visions of reporters from the Daily Prophet swarming Adam for interviews and photographs. Ginny remembered, too, how uncomfortable Adam had been when he'd been in the paper briefly after the incident at the Quidditch World Cup. This would be a _million_ times worse.

CRACK!

Two loud and almost simultaneous Apparitions startled her and she leapt off the sofa, fumbling for her wand. She narrowly avoided standing on Adam who was sprawled out of the floor reading a book.

"Alright, Sis?" Fred asked winking at her from where he was now standing in the middle of the living room.

"What the hell?" Ginny shouted.

"You passed, then?" Adam asked as he climbed to his feet.

"Yep," replied George. "Flawless performances by both of us."

"Well done!" Ginny squealed excitedly and hugged both of her brothers.

"Well done, guys," Adam said and he shook the twins hands.

The twins both smirked. "One more task complete in our master plan,"

"What plan would that be then?" Ginny replied smoothly.

The twins lent near to Ginny and Adam, and conspiratorially whispered. "It doesn't look like we will be able to open our store initially. So our new plan is a mobile store, so we can sell wherever we want, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley or even door to door."

"Wow," said Adam. "Your stuff is loads better than Zonko's. You'd make a killing but why can't you open a store?"

"Money, old chap, we need to earn some decent money before we can afford the rent," Fred replied.

"Anyway," continued George. "We had better inform mother of our success."

They both disappeared with another loud CRACK.

Ginny giggled as her mother's surprised scream echoed from the kitchen. With the twins now gone, Ginny lay back down on the sofa and Adam, grabbing his book from the floor, perched himself on the end of it.

A short time later her mother walked into the living room fanning herself and sat down tiredly in a chair opposite them.

"Oh dear, those two!" she exclaimed. "They're never going to walk around the house again, I swear. Did they get you two as well?"

"Yep," Adam replied. "Ginny jumped a mile."

"Oi!" Ginny responded. "Did not!"

Mum laughed and then fell silent.

"Adam, would you be a dear and excuse us for a few minutes. I'd like to have a little mother - daughter chat with Ginny."

"Sure, Mrs. Weasley," Adam replied, looking slightly confused, but he obeyed, grabbed his book and went upstairs.

"What's up, Mum?" Ginny asked.

"I just wanted to check. Is Adam alright? He seemed quite down the first few weeks of the summer, but now he seems much better," Mum asked.

"He's fine, Mum," Ginny replied, wondering what she could tell her mum without revealing the truth. "What happened in school upset him I think."

"Yes, quite an interesting year in school I expect," her mum replied.

Ginny nodded, unsure where her mother was going with this.

"I saw you and Adam walking around the other day holding hands," he mother said softly.

"Oh," Ginny replied.

"So...." her mum prompted.

"What?" asked Ginny. She now had very little hope she could dodge the question, but she had to try.

"How did that happen?" he mum asked, in an exasperated tone.

"Nothing's happened!"

"Oh, come off it, Ginny!" her mum exclaimed.

"Mum...." Ginny pleaded.

"I'm not cross with you dear. It's quite normal for a girl your age to want to date. Well..." she hesitated. "I think I'd have liked you to wait until you're a little older, but," she hesitated again. "I'm not angry. You're nearly fourteen now," then Mum then did the strangest thing, she giggled. "I think I had my first boyfriend in my fourth year at Hogwarts!"

Ginny stared at her mum in shock.

"I...I didn't think you'd approve," she said, stumbling slightly over the words.

"Why ever not? Adam is a lovely boy."

"I-I heard you and Dad talking in the kitchen," she paused. "Y-You said you'd deal with us if our relationship changed!"

"Oh, Ginny! We wouldn't have meant that in a bad way! So tell me... when did this happen?" her mum asked, leaning closer to her.

"Oh, just after Christmas," Ginny said uncomfortably. "Erm, can I go now?"

"In a minute, dear. I just wanted ask; have you thought about what happens if you and he split up. Can you still be friends?" Mum asked.

Ginny had thought about that. "Mum, we hardly have any private time and well, neither of us have ever had a," Ginny hesitated and blushed. "Erm, you know. We just seem to click together. I never feel the need to spend time with anyone else. Adam's erm," Ginny thought for a second. "I don't think we could ever fall out so badly that we weren't friends."

"I understand, dear, and while I don't mind, you two aren't to take advantage of your living arrangements," Mum said sternly. "And I will be watching you all summer!"  
"Mum!" Ginny exclaimed, blushing furiously. "We wouldn't!"

"I know, dear," Mum replied with a smile. "I can see you're uncomfortable, so you can go now if you want."

Ginny bolted up from her seat anxious to escape. However, as she left the room she turned around. "Mum, can you not tell the _boys,_ please," she pleaded.

"This can be our secret," Mum replied. "I'll be telling your father, but I won't tell anyone else."

Ginny breathed a sigh of relief and then escaped upstairs. Horrified at the conversation she had just had.


	3. Chapter 2

**Adam  
July 31st 1995**

The owl, which was carrying a large parcel, swooped in through the open window of The Burrow's kitchen as Adam and the Weasley family were eating breakfast. Adam ignored it, he never got any post. However, several minutes later, the owl was still circling the room as if searching for someone to deliver the parcel to.

"What's up with that owl?" Ron asked irritably, as he stood up and held out his arm towards the owl.

The owl immediately flew down and perched on his arm.

"I never thought it would be that easy," he said in a surprised tone, as he examined the package. "Oh, it's for you, Adam."

"What? Me?" Adam said, jumping up in surprise.

"Here you go," replied Ron, passing the parcel over the table to Adam.

Adam examined the parcel. It was wrapped in brown paper and felt soft. Attached to the outside of the package was an envelope that was addressed to him. Adam opened the envelope. Inside was another envelope with a short note scrawled on it.

_Adam, open in private._

Adam quickly placed the envelope back inside the outer one. He looked up to see the Weasleys looking at him curiously.

"Oh, it's, erm, only some clothes I left at school," Adam replied as he shoved the package under his seat.

As quickly as he could, Adam finished his breakfast, dashed upstairs to his room and sat down on the bed. He wanted to find out what was in that parcel. He opened both envelopes, took out the sheet of parchment that was inside and started reading.

_Dear Harry,_

This letter may well come as a surprise to you, but I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday. For today, July 31st, is your birthday. Your full date of birth is 31st July 1980. I have also enclosed something that your father left with me before he died. I believe he would have wanted you to have it.

Additionally, your godfather, Sirius, has asked if you can visit him over the summer. I have agreed to his request and I will ask an Auror friend of mine, Nymphadora Tonks, to come and bring you to him. She is aware of Sirius' situation; however, she is not aware of your identity.

She will be coming for you next Saturday. I will write to the Weasleys to inform them of your trip; I will inform them that we are doing some research into locating some distant relatives of yours. The fact that you will leave the Burrow with an Auror will lend credence to this.

I will meet with you upon your return to Hogwarts on September 1st.

Regards,  
Albus Dumbledore

Adam gripped the letter tightly in his hand, feeling his anger at Professor Dumbledore surfacing again. _I have a godfather! Yet another thing that Dumbledore has kept from me!_

As he sat there fuming to himself, a knock on the door disturbed him.

"Come in," he said tensely as he shoved the letter under his pillow.

Ginny slipped in through the door and closed it behind her. She sat down on the bed next to Adam.

"So what was really in the parcel?" she asked.

Adam passed her the note that Professor Dumbledore had written. He watched her reactions carefully as she read the letter; they flickered between surprise, annoyance and finally anger.

"He really does like keeping secrets and telling you what to do, doesn't he?" said Ginny bitterly.

"Yeah," Adam responded angrily, glad that Ginny agreed with him. "First, he finally decides to tell me that Sirius is actually my godfather, then he generously agrees that I can see him!"

"I can't believe he didn't tell you!" Ginny responded in a quieter voice, as she lowered her head and seemingly began reading the letter again.

"I know," Adam growled. "Why didn't he tell me! Sirius was sitting right there in the room!"

"Adam," Ginny began, her voice softening. "You did sort-of storm out...."

Adam suddenly felt himself deflate at Ginny's words. Maybe she was right? Maybe they were going to tell him, but he stormed out of the room before they could?

"Isn't it kind-of cool to have a godfather though?" Ginny added softly.

Adam turned to look at her, and felt the last of his anger draining away. "Especially one who's a wanted criminal," he replied with a chuckle.

"I know," Ginny gave a short laugh. "But nothing's ever normal for you, eh?"

"Nope," Adam replied tiredly.

"You'll go and see him then?" Ginny questioned, after a short silence.

"Yeah," Adam replied, feeling himself smiling slightly. "I will. It may be fun and I bet he'll be able to tell me more about my parents."

"Do you reckon I can come with you on one of your visits?" Ginny asked, slightly hesitantly.

"I'll have to ask Sirius I guess," Adam replied.

"And I'll have to ask my mum," Ginny finished with a sigh.

They sat in silence for a few seconds while Ginny peered again at the letter.

"So," Ginny said, looking back up at Adam. "Happy Birthday, I guess."

Adam grinned. "Thanks. I guess I'm lucky that I get two."

"So, you're a year older than me," Ginny said quietly.

"Yeah, I guess so," Adam replied.

"Well, I reckon I knew that. I mean, I knew that Harry Potter was born a year before me, but somehow I didn't tie that up with you."

"So... I really should be in Ron's year."

"You don't think they'll try and move you?" Ginny asked, suddenly looking worried.

Adam put his arm around Ginny's shoulders and pulled her close.

"If they try, I'll refuse," he said.

Ginny wrapped her arms around his middle and gave him a hug. "Thanks! I'd be so lonely without you in classes."

They sat there for several minutes, simply enjoying the close contact between them.

"What was it that Professor Dumbledore sent you, by the way?" Ginny asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

"Oh, I didn't open it," Adam replied. He'd been so focused on the letter he'd almost forgotten about the parcel.

Ginny uncoiled her arms from around Adam, lent across the bed and passed the parcel to Adam.

Adam ripped off the paper. Inside, there was a large silvery grey piece of cloth, it seemed to shimmer as Adam ran his fingers through it. He pulled it out of the parcel as Ginny leaned over to look at it.

"It's a cloak!" she exclaimed. "Go on! Put it on!"

Adam grabbed the cloak and pulled it on so it covered his entire body apart from his head. Ginny suddenly burst out in laughter.

"What?" Adam asked.

"Y-Y-Your just," she laughed. "Just a floating head!"

Adam looked down. He couldn't see his body. He frantically moved his hands and patted himself down. His body was still there, he just couldn't see it.

"How?" Adam asked in amazement.

"It must be an Invisibility Cloak!" Ginny exclaimed. "They're so rare, I've never seen one!"

"Do you want a go?" Adam asked, pulling the cloak off.

Ginny squealed in excitement and pulled it on. Soon there was just a floating Ginny-head in the air in front of Adam. Her long hair flowing down over where her body would have been, if he could see it.

"Wow!" Adam exclaimed.

Ginny twirled around in the cloak, her hair fanning out around her floating head. She giggled.

"This is awesome!" she cried.

Suddenly, a knock on the door disturbed them. Ginny put one finger to her lips and pulled the cloak over her head, disappearing from sight.

"Come in," Adam said.

Mrs Weasley poked her head in through the door.

"Hello, dear, I'm just wondering if you'd seen Ginny?" she asked. Adam could see her eyes scanning the room.

"N-N-No, I haven't, Mrs. Weasley," Adam said. He felt a tiny bit guilty about lying to her, but he couldn't exactly tell her that Ginny was currently invisible.

"Oh, okay," Mrs Weasley replied. "Oh by the way, I had a letter from Professor Dumbledore this morning, about him wanting to do some research to see if you had any extended family."

"Yeah," Adam replied. "I had the same. Apparently, I'm going with an Auror next Saturday."

Mrs Weasley nodded. "Yes," she paused. "You do know you're always welcome here though, Adam."

"I know," Adam paused. "Mrs. Weasley, I can never thank you enough for all you've done for me," he finished awkwardly.

"You don't have to thank us, dear," Mrs Weasley replied, with a wide smile on her face. "Now I'll leave you to it."

Once Mrs Weasley had left the room, Adam scanned the room, looking for any sign of where Ginny might have gone.

"Ginny?" he called.

No answer.

"Ginny?" he called again. Perhaps she had left the room.

Suddenly, an invisible set of arms grabbed him across his chest and pulled him backwards. Taken by surprise, Adam fell backwards and landed on top of an invisible person. He heard Ginny giggling. So he turned over and tried desperately to grab her invisible arms which were busy trying to tickle him. After several seconds of frantic wrestling Adam was able to pin down her arms and grab hold of the top of the cloak. He pulled it back to reveal Ginny's face which was plastered with a massive grin.

"I surrender!" she giggled.

Adam stared into Ginny's eyes, blushing as he realised the position the two of them were in.

"Go on," Ginny said with a smile.

"Your mum..." Adam said hesitantly.

"She knows I'm not in here."

Adam couldn't fault Ginny's logic. So he kissed her.

Once they broke apart, Ginny exclaimed gleefully. "We could get into so much trouble with this cloak!"  
**  
Tonks  
August 5th 1995**

Tonks approached the front door of The Burrow. Sirius had told her that the Weasley family lived here, as did the kid, Adam, that she had been sent to fetch. When she reached the house, Tonks knocked on the front door. A minute or so later the door opened to reveal a slightly plump woman who had red hair and was about the same height as Tonks.

"Hi," Tonks began.

"Oh, you must be Nymphadora," the woman exclaimed. "Professor Dumbledore told us you would be coming."

_Why did Professor Dumbledore always insist on introducing her by her full name?_

"Do come in. My name is Molly Weasley. I'll just get Adam for you," the woman replied as she held the door open for Tonks.

Tonks followed Molly into the kitchen and waited patiently by the large table that dominated the room.

"ADAM!!" she heard Molly shouting up the stairs.

A few minutes later, Molly and two teenagers came into the kitchen, a boy and a girl. The girl was obviously a Weasley; her long red hair was her most distinctive feature. The boy was a couple of inches taller than the girl. He had short, very light brown hair and wore glasses.

"Adam?" she asked.

"Yes, erm," he hesitated.

"Just call me Tonks," Tonks replied with a smile. The boy looked strangely nervous.

"Okay," he replied.

"Shall we go then?" Tonks asked.

"What time will you be back?" Molly asked.

"By dinner time I'd expect," Tonks replied, glancing at her watch. "But we better get going."

"Have you ever Side-Along-Apparated before?" Tonks asked Adam, as they left the house and began walking towards the perimeter of the property.

He shook his head.

"Okay, take my arm. It'll feel like you're being squeezed through a tube."

Adam took her arm and Tonks promptly Disapparated to Grimmauld Place.

They reappeared with a pop in the small park opposite Sirius' house and Adam promptly fell to his knees breathing heavily.

"Whoa," he said shakily.

Tonks giggled. "It does take a bit of getting used to," she said as she helped Adam to his feet.

"Where are we?" Adam asked.

"We're near his house," Tonks replied, deliberately keeping her answer vague so they couldn't be overheard

Tonks rummaged in her pockets and withdrew a slip of paper, which she showed to Adam.

"Read it and remember it," she told him.

Once Adam was finished Tonks put the paper away securely in her pocket, she would need to give it back to Sirius. Professor Dumbledore had, for Sirius' protection, placed the house under the Fidelius Charm.

"Right let's, go in," Tonks said, as she led Adam across the street.

Once the entered the house, Tonks noticed that Adam was looking around warily. Sirius had done a bit of cleaning up, but his efforts had mainly focused on the kitchen and his bedroom. His enthusiasm seemed to soon dim when it came to cleaning any of the other rooms.

Tonks led Adam down the stairs to the kitchen where she expected Sirius would be. She pushed open the door and Sirius leapt up from where he was sitting at the table reading the paper.

"Tonks!" he exclaimed. "Adam! Welcome to my home. Please, sit down."

Tonks noticed that Sirius seemed incredibly pleased to see the boy. She wondered what exactly Sirius' relationship with the boy was.

"Tonks," Sirius said hesitantly. "Would... would you..."

"I'll head upstairs and do some more cleaning," Tonks said brightly. She wanted to avoid the embarrassment of Sirius asking her leave. Albus had asked her not to ask any questions and she wouldn't. She was used restricted information in her job and this was no different.

Tonks headed back to the hallway. It badly needed cleaning up and she felt it was a very bad first impression of the building, as had been proved by Adam's earlier reaction. Her first task was to levitate the incredibly ugly troll's foot umbrella stand into one of the corners so it was out of the way. _I'm not tripping over that thing again!_ she thought triumphantly. _And who uses umbrellas anyway!_

With the offending umbrella stand out of the way, Tonks began banishing the piles of muck and dust that littered the floor.

A short time later, she was disturbed by a light knock on the door. She took out her wand and approached it cautiously. She didn't know who else, apart from her, Sirius, Albus and now Adam, knew the secret.

When Tonks cautiously opened the door she saw a man on the other side. He was several inches taller than her and had light brown hair which was sprinkled slightly a with a nice tinge of grey.

"Uh, hi," he said awkwardly, blushing slightly. He obviously hadn't expected her to answer the door.

"Hi," she replied lamely, amazed that she was blushing back slightly as well. _How old are you Tonks? Fifteen!_?

"Hi," he said again and extended his hand. "Remus Lupin. I'm a friend of Padfoot."

"Oh, hi," she shook his hand. "Nympahadora Tonks, but I'm just Tonks."

They stood there for a second.

"What am I doing?" Tonks exclaimed. "Come in, come in!"

Remus stepped inside the house and Tonks closed the door behind him.

"So, Tonks." Remus began. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, I brought this kid, Adam, to see Sirius. Albus asked me to help Sirius out."

"I see."

"I'm Sirius' cousin," blurted Tonks.

"Shall we go and join Sirius and Adam then?" Remus suggested.

"Erm, it seemed to me as if he and Sirius were having a private conversation."

"Oh," said Remus. "Let's give them some space then," Remus seemed to be looking awkwardly around the room. "So tell me a bit about yourself then, Tonks?" Remus chuckled. "Have you been trying to domesticate Sirius? "

**Adam  
August 5th 1995**

"So how's your summer been so far?" Sirius asked, once Tonks had left the room.

"Alright I suppose, I've got some homework done. Oh and the Weasleys had a birthday party for me!" Adam said, smiling at the memory of that day.

Sirius grinned back at him.

"I've got you something for your birthday as well. I didn't send it. I, er, wanted to give it to you myself. To be honest, it's a present from Remus too, really. He helped me loads with it," Sirius paused. "Sorry. I'm rambling."

"Thanks, Sirius," Adam replied with a smile.

Sirius went to a shelf in the kitchen and retrieved a wrapped parcel. He placed it in front of Adam.

Adam tore the paper off eagerly. Inside was a leather-bound book. Adam opened the book and looked on the first page. On the page was a large picture of a man, a woman and a small child. It was a wizarding photo, so the people in it were moving. The man and the woman both placed a kiss on the head of the small boy and then hugged each other. The woman had long dark red hair, the man had messy black hair and glasses, and the boy had short black hair.

"That's you and your parents," Sirius added gently.

Adam continued to stare at the photo. He ran his thumb slowly over his mum and dad's faces and then, finally, stared at his own.

"My hair," he commented.

"What?" Sirius questioned.

"My hair is a different colour."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed uncertainly.

Adam continued to look through the photo album. He saw many pictures of his parents, ranging in age from their time at Hogwarts to some taken only weeks before they were killed. Sirius, Remus and even Peter were in several photos.

"T-T-Thank you... thank you so much!" Adam exclaimed, once he had finished. He immediately turned back to the first page, he couldn't take his eyes off the photos.

"It's yours to keep, so you can look through it as much as you like. I've charmed it so only you'll be able to open it. Make sure to close it when you're finished," Sirius informed him.

"Thank you," Adam said again. He was still flicking through the album, drinking in the images of himself with his parents. "This is so amazing! I've no memories of them at all. I-I-I can't thank you enough."

"It's no problem, Adam," Sirius replied.

"I-I-I've been such an arse about all this. It can't be easy for you guys knowing that I'm alive after all this time," Adam confessed.

"You had every right to behave like you did. It must have been a massive shock for you. I was incredibly angry with Albus and Remus when I found out they had kept it from you. Even if it was to protect you."

An awkward silence fell between the two of them.

"Sirius," a familiar voice called from the doorway behind Adam.

Adam spun around and saw Professor Lupin standing in the doorway.

"Come in, Remus!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Hi, Ha..." Professor Lupin began, but Adam saw Sirius glare at him. "Sorry, Adam. What did you think of the photos?"

"They're wonderful, thank you, Professor," Adam replied. He felt genuinely grateful, despite the anger he still felt towards Professor Lupin for hiding the truth from him.

"It's no problem, Adam," he chuckled slightly. "I'm not your professor anymore so if you want to call me Remus that's fine."

"Okay, Pro- er, Remus," Adam replied.

"I've got something for you as well, Adam," Professor Lupin replied.

Adam saw Sirius look at Professor Lupin curiously. It seemed Sirius didn't know about this present.

Professor Lupin, rummaged in his pocket, and pulled out another parcel wrapped in brown paper.

Adam felt the parcel. It was soft and rather small. _What could it be?_ He ripped open the paper and pulled out a tiny blue blanket. He stared at it, puzzled.

"Is that?!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yes," replied Professor Lupin with a smile.

"What is it?" Adam asked.

"That's the blanket you were wrapped in when you were found," Professor Lupin replied.

"Oh," Adam said numbly. _What was he supposed to do with it?_ "Thanks," he said after a pause. It was nice to have, but it didn't even begin to compare to the photos.

They sat there in uncomfortable silence for several minutes. Finally, Adam folded up the blanket and turned his attention back to the photos.

"Now I was thinking, if you want to ask us anything about your mum and dad, we will answer your questions as best we can," said Sirius, breaking the silence.

Adam nodded. He was feeling slightly uncomfortable now with Sirius and Professor Lupin looking at him intently.

"I want to know what happened that night. Why did Voldemort attack us?" Adam asked. He was surprised when Sirius and Remus both flinched at the name.

Sirius was the first to speak. "Well, when I got to the house... half of the side of it was missing. James was dead in the living room. Lily was... Lily.." Sirius swallowed. "I'm sorry, there wasn't much... much left of your mother and no trace whatsoever of you. Your room was practically destroyed. It was like someone had set off a large explosion in there. There was hardly anything left of your mum or You-Know-Who. You were so small. We thought...." Sirius rubbed his eyes. "We thought... there was nothing left of you at all," Sirius paused. "I was the only one that knew that Peter was the Secret Keeper. I knew he had to have had something to do with it. So I went off after him and, well, I think you know the rest."

"But why did he attack us?" Adam questioned.

Sirius looked blankly back at him.

"Professor?" Adam asked.

"I-I don't know," Professor Lupin replied. "We knew he was after them, but why...."

"You don't know," Adam finished softly.

"I'm sorry," replied Sirius. "Your best bet would be to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

"I will," Adam replied coldly.

Another awkward silence fell in the room.

"Well, shall we have some tea and a bite to eat?" Sirius asked, breaking the silence. He got up and started bustling around the kitchen.

"Shall we invite Tonks down? I think the serious conversations are done for the day." Professor Lupin suggested.

"Sure," Adam replied and Professor Lupin quickly left the room.

Soon Professor Lupin and Tonks returned and the four of them sat around the table in the kitchen. Adam was torn. He was partly relieved to not have to discuss his past anymore, but he was still desperately curious about his parents; what were they like and why had they been killed? However, it seemed that some of the answers he wanted neither Remus nor Sirius were able to give.  
**  
Ginny  
August 10th 1995**

Ginny bounced down the stairs. She was getting excited now. Tomorrow was her birthday! She reached the kitchen to find that, as usual, Adam was already up and had made a start on his breakfast.

"Morning," Ginny said brightly.

"Morning," Adam grunted in reply. He was still focused on his breakfast.

"Morning, dear," said mum.

Ginny sat down next to Adam and tucked into her breakfast. She gave him a nudge.

"Wake up!"

Adam turned and grinned at her.

"You're lively this morning," he said.

"It's my birthday tomorrow!" Ginny exclaimed.

Adam clapped his hand to his mouth. "Oh, no! I forgot!" he cried with a wink.

Adam's antics caused Ginny to smile. He had been a lot livelier recently, so much improved from his depressed state at the beginning of the holidays.

Over the last couple of days, they had spent hours together looking through the album that Sirius had given him. Ginny was amazed at the sheer amount of pleasure that just looking at the photos brought Adam. She supposed it was only natural, since he'd not known anything about his parents all his life and now, in comparison, he had a treasure trove of information about them. Much to Ginny's delight Adam had also showed her the photos of him as a baby, _he was so cute!_

"Stop it you two!" Mum said suddenly.

Ginny turned to face her mum and blushed. Mum was looking at her and Adam with a strange expression on her face. Turning back to her plate Ginny tucked into her breakfast.

Ginny had finished her breakfast before any of the other boys had even arrived at the table. While she and Adam were cleaning up their plates an owl flew in through the kitchen window and mum quickly grabbed the set of envelopes that were attached to the owl's leg.

"Hogwarts Letters!" she exclaimed. "Ginny, go and get the others up. Tell them their Hogwarts letters are here."

Ginny ran to the foot of the stairs and shouted up. "Ron, Fred, George! Hogwarts letters!" She listened for a few minutes and, satisfied that she could hear movement up the stairs, she returned to the kitchen.

Adam was already opening and reading through his Hogwarts letter when she returned. She slid into her chair again and did the same. Soon they were joined by Fred, George and Ron who also eagerly grabbed their letters and ripped them open.

"Nothing unusual this year," Adam commented when he had finished reading.

A strangled cough from Ron attracted Ginny's attention. She turned to face her brother to see that he was holding a golden badge in the shape of the letter P. He looked horrified.

"Ron! A prefect!" Mum exclaimed with an excited squeal and wrapped Ron in a hug.

"Nice one, Ron!" Ginny exclaimed and hugged her brother.

"Nice one, mate," Adam added.

"Oh no," Fred exclaimed. "Our Ronnie! One of our own, a prefect! How will we cope?"

"Shut it, Fred," Ron replied, now with a large smile on his face.

Ron was still twirling the badge in his hand. It still seemed as if he couldn't believe he had been made a prefect.

"I wonder who the girl fifth year prefect is?" Fred asked with a wink.

"Yeah, who'd you reckon?" Ron asked.

Ginny snorted.

"Hermione!" she cried. "Really who else could it be?"

"Oh," Ron replied blushing slightly. "I suppose I could write to her and find out."

"What a brilliant idea, Ron. You can invite her to come over for a few days as well if you want," added Mum.

"Oh, erm. Yes, er. Yes, I will," Ron spluttered, and he dashed out of the kitchen.

"When are those two just going to snog?" Ginny asked the table at large.

The twins and Adam burst out in laughter.

"Ginny!" Mum scolded her. "Be nice to your brother!"

Even though she had scolded her, Ginny couldn't help but notice that a smile had formed on her mum's face. 


	4. Chapter 3

**Adam  
August 12th 1995**

Adam didn't like Apparition. It was probably the most uncomfortable way to travel. _Ever_. The feeling of being squished and pulled along a narrow pipe made Adam want to be sick and it had taken him at least three goes before he'd managed to arrive at the other of end without immediately falling over.

Tonks had just Apparated him to Diagon Alley and Adam, much to his relief, had managed to land with only a slight stumble. It was a Saturday, so Diagon Alley was moderately crowded. It would have been very embarrassing for him to fall over in front of all of those people.

"So where are we heading today?" he asked Tonks. She had been very vague about where they were going. All she had told him was that they were taking a trip to Diagon Alley.

"Wait and see," Tonks replied cheekily. "We're meeting Remus."

As they walked together down Diagon Alley, Adam looked on with interest as Tonks steered him towards one of the few buildings in Diagon Alley that he'd not yet been in. They were approaching Gringotts Bank, a white building that towered over many of the others.

When they reached the building, Tonks held open the large front door and Adam entered.

Inside the bank there was a long line of goblin cashiers behind desks. Adam had seen plenty of pictures of goblins in books and he'd heard plenty about their rebellions in History of Magic.

Adam and Tonks joined a queue and eventually were seen by one of the goblins.

"This young man has an appointment with Ragnok," Tonks told the clerk.

"Name?" The goblin asked him.

"Adam Winters," Adam replied.

The clerk paused for a second and looked down at something that was out of Adam's sight, before replying. "Very well, you may go through those doors and take the first door on the right," the goblin gestured towards a set of double doors on the far side of the room. They were engraved with a large golden G.

Adam walked purposefully over towards the doors, but, to his surprise, Tonks didn't follow him.

"See you later, Adam," Tonks said as she took a seat in a small waiting area in the main room of the bank.

"Aren't you coming?" Adam asked. Then he realised, she didn't know. So she couldn't come.

"Nope," she replied and then continued with an exaggerated sad face. "I'm not welcome!"

Adam laughed and was relieved to see that Tonks laughed back.

"Go on, Ad!" she called. "You'll be late."

Adam walked through the double doors and, approaching the first door on the right, he knocked on the door.

"Come in," called a voice from inside.

Adam entered the room. In the centre of the room, there was a goblin sitting behind a large desk. Also in the room were Remus and by his chair sat a large black dog. _Sirius!_ Adam thought excitedly.

"Hello, Mr. Winters," said the goblin behind the desk. "I am Ragnok."

"Hi, Mr. Ragnok," Adam replied politely.

"Very good. Please take a seat," continued Ragnok.

"Hi, Adam," Remus said softly.

"Hi, Remus," Adam replied and, stroking Sirius' head, he sat down in the chair next to Remus.

"We are here to discuss the vault belonging to Mr Harry James Potter," Ragnok began.

"Vault?" Adam asked. _I have a vault?_

Ragnok coughed. "As I was saying, I am to understand that the name you were given at birth is Harry James Potter?"

"Yeah," Adam replied hesitantly.

"Then I must ask for a blood sample please, Mr. Winters," Ragnok continued. "Your hand please."

Adam stood and went forward to stand in front of Ragnok's desk. He held out his hand and Ragnok took a small blood sample, which he then placed into a slot on top of a metal box that sat on the desk.

"This will take a few seconds," Ragnok informed them.

Everyone waited in silence until, a few seconds later, the box opened with a click and Ragnok withdrew a golden key which he then passed to Adam.

"This key, Mr. Potter, will grant you access to your vault."

"I have a vault?" Adam asked, hoping he would get an answer this time.

"Yes, Mr. Potter, you do," replied Ragnok.

"It's all still intact?" interrupted Remus.

"Yes," replied Ragnok.

"We would like to see the vault, if possible," said Remus. "And see a list of transactions."

"Yes, that can be arranged," replied Ragnok.

"Stop!" Adam shouted in exasperation. "I want someone to explain what is going on!"

Sirius yelped enthusiastically at this.

"Sorry," Remus said, suddenly looking guilty.

"Apologies, Mr. Potter, let me explain," interrupted Ragnok. "You see, when your parents were killed their will stated that all their worldly possessions and monetary savings would become yours."

Adam nodded his understanding.

"However, you were also believed dead. Normally, this would mean that the vault and its contents would pass to the nearest family member. However, as you had no living wizarding family and neither yourself nor your parents had made any further provision, the vault would pass to the Ministry of Magic."

"So with all us believed dead the vault would go to the Ministry?" Adam clarified.

"Yes," the goblin continued, "but in cases where the assets of an entire family pass into the control of the Ministry we exercise somewhat stricter rules. In cases such as your's where there were, naturally, no identifiable remains, we must wait until the person can be declared dead in absentia, a process which takes fifteen years."

"Okay," Adam replied, trying to keep his face expressionless. _His parents had left him money!_ _He'd never had any money before!_

"So the Ministry will be expecting to take control of the Potter vault next year?" Remus asked.

"Yes, they are."

"Are they aware yet that Harry is alive?" Remus questioned.

"Not yet," replied Ragnok. "We will not tell them. However, when they come to take control of the Potter vault they will obviously realise that one of the Potters is indeed alive."

Remus nodded but Adam felt uneasy, that would mean in a little over a year the ministry would know who he was.

"Well, would you like to see your vault, Adam?" Remus asked.

Adam nodded, wondering exactly what his parents had left him.

Ragnok took Adam, Remus and Sirius on an incredible journey in a small cart. It was probably one of the funnest things Adam had done for a while and, by the time the ride was over, Adam thought they must be miles underground.

Once they reached their destination, Adam climbed out of the cart and saw a massive metal door in front of him.

"This is vault 687. Your vault, Mr. Potter," Ragnok informed him. "Use your key to open the door."

Adam inserted his key into the slot in the door, turned it and, with a slight scream of moving metal, the door slowly creaked open.

Once the door had opened, Adam stared blankly into the vault. It was piled high with gold coins.

"W-W-What?" Adam asked. He was dumbfounded. He had never seen so much money before in his entire life.

"This is what your parents left you," Remus said gently.

"In addition to this, you are also the owner of the house in Godric's Hollow," said Ragnok.

"House?" Adam asked.

Remus hesitated. "Your parents house, where it happened."

"Oh," Adam replied, still feeling somewhat numb.

Adam stood there, staring at the money. _What on earth would he need that much money for?_

Adam turned to Remus and Sirius. "I want to give some money to the Weasleys. They've looked after me for years."

Remus hesitated. "Adam," he began softly. "That would not be a good idea. Firstly, I don't think they would accept it and we couldn't explain where all the money had come from."

Adam growled in frustration.

"Don't worry, Professor Dumbledore has ensured that they are not placed in hardship because they are looking after you."

"Can I take some with me?" Adam asked Ragnok.

Ragnok nodded and passed Adam a bag.

"I'm not sure that's wise, Adam. You would have to be very careful," Remus interrupted.

"I don't care what you say. I'm going to take some with me!" Adam said angrily. "All my life I've had nothing! I've not even been able to get any of my friends presents and now I have all this and you say I can't use it!"

"Okay," Remus replied, lowering his head slightly. "I'm sorry."

Adam strode inside and, gathering a hand full of Galleons, shoved them into the bag. When he emerged from the vault he noticed Remus had already gone back to the cart and Adam now felt guilty for shouting at him earlier.

"I'm sorry," Adam said as he sat down next to Remus.

Remus smiled at him. "Don't worry," he replied. "You're coping with all this fantastically. I think you're entitled to a little outburst every now and again."

Adam grinned back. "Erm, can we stop off in Diagon Alley on the way back? I would like to get a present for someone."

"Who would that be for?" Remus asked in a teasing tone.

"Ginny," Adam said, blushing slightly.

Sirius started yelping happily at this news. So Adam swatted him across the head.

"Did you tell her?" Remus asked.

"Yes," Adam replied. "She'll keep my secret."

Remus nodded in agreement. "Okay, then I guess we can take a little shopping trip on our way home."

"Tonks might be able to help me pick something out," Adam said brightly.

Adam was amused to notice that Remus blushed at the mention of Tonks.  
**  
Ginny  
August 12th 1995**

Ginny had finished her chores by mid-afternoon and, as much as she loved her mother, after spending the entire morning and half of the afternoon being sent from room to room with cleaning materials in hand, she needed to get away. So Ginny grabbed one of her magazines, and escaped into the garden.

Once she was away from the house, Ginny sat down next to the tree by the pond and began reading.

"Ginny!" Her mum called, disturbing her from her reading. "It's nearly dinner time!"  
_  
Wow, time had flown by._

Ginny picked up her things and wandered back into the house. She went upstairs to her room to put her things back and tidy herself up before dinner. Hopefully, Adam would be back by then.

When she reached the first floor landing, Ginny noticed that the door to Adam's room was already open. _He must be back already_, she thought excitedly. So Ginny poked her head in the room. Adam was lying on his back on the bed staring at the ceiling.

"Hello!" Ginny said brightly.

"Hi," he said with a smile as he turned towards her.

"Good day?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah...erm...lots to tell you."

Ginny closed the door and sat down on the bed. She noticed Adam was rummaging for something in his pockets. He withdrew a small wrapped parcel which he presented to her.

"Happy late Birthday," he said, blushing slightly.

"Oh, Adam!" Ginny replied. _How had he managed to get her a present?_ "How.... Thank you!"

Ginny eagerly ripped open the wrapping. Inside was a small box, which she also opened. _Oh my!_ Inside the box was an absolutely _beautiful_ silver locket on a chain.

Ginny looked up. She was amazed that Adam had given her something so amazingly beautiful. He was looking at her intently, still blushing furiously.

"D-D-Do you like it?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh, Adam! I love it!" Ginny exclaimed.

"You can put a photo in it, erm, if you want," Adam blurted, pointing to the small circular body of the locket.

"Thank you!" Ginny exclaimed, leaping forward and hugging him. "but... but how?" Ginny asked. "You didn't get Sirius to buy this did you?"

"No!" Adam said defensively. "It's got a lot to do with what happened today."

"Go on," Ginny said, still gazing at the beautiful present that Adam had given her.

"Well, Remus and Sirius took me to Gringotts. Apparently, my parents left me some money," Adam said.

"Oh, wow!" Ginny exclaimed. "That's amazing! You shouldn't have spent so much money on me though. This must have cost a lot."

"You're worth it," Adam replied. "Besides," he hesitated. "They left me rather a lot of money."

"Oh," Ginny replied. Surprised that he seemed almost ashamed that his parents had left him money.

"I can't really use it though," he said. "If I suddenly get loads of money people will be suspicious."

"That does make sense." Ginny mused.

"I know, but well, I wanted to give some to your mum and dad for letting me live here and I wanted to get you all presents to repay you for all the presents you've given me and, well, I couldn't."

"Adam!" Ginny exclaimed. "We didn't take you in or get you presents because we expected them back! I really don't think my dad would take charity anyway!"

"But..."

"No buts!" Ginny scolded him. "Save the money. You'll need it for the future."

Adam grinned. "Yes, boss."

"That's one thing you've gotten right," Ginny replied with a smirk. "Now come on, it's nearly dinner time and Mum will go mental if we're in a room together with a closed door."  
**  
Adam  
August 19th 1995**

Adam was waiting patiently for Ginny. They had finally managed to arrange for Ginny to come along on a visit to go and see Sirius. Sirius and Tonks had readily agreed. Persuading Mrs Weasley had been a much harder task than they thought but she had eventually agreed.

"Wotcher, Adam," Tonks' voice surprised him from the doorway to the kitchen.

"Hi, Tonks," Adam greeted her cheerily. "Ginny's still getting ready."

Ginny joined them eventually. She was wearing a blue skirt, a blouse and a cardigan. Adam grinned when he saw her. He had kept out of the argument between Ginny and Mrs Weasley about what she would wear today. Mrs Weasley was insistent that Ginny needed to wear a dress, while Ginny had been completely against a dress. By the look of what Ginny was wearing they had come to some sort of compromise. Seeing Ginny in a skirt outside of school uniform was rare, not that Adam minded of course.

"You look very nice, Ginny," Tonks complimented. "I'm surprised the young man here hasn't complimented you yet."

Adam felt himself blushing. "I erm... Ahh. You see..."

Ginny burst out in a fit of giggles. "Tonks is only teasing you, Adam!"

"Oh," Adam paused. "You do look nice, Ginny!"

Ginny grinned back at him. "Thanks!"

"Well, are you off, then?" said Mrs Weasley as she entered from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mum," replied Ginny, giving her mum a hug.

"Well, try to be back by dinner time," said Mrs Weasley. "Remember, we're helping Percy move tomorrow. So we all need to get an early night."

"Come on, guys. We need to get going," Tonks said with a wink.

Tonks took Ginny on the first trip to Sirius' house and then returned for Adam. When he entered Number 12, Ginny was waiting for him. She looked rather apprehensive about being in the dark hallway.

"Nice place," Ginny commented.

"Sirius knows how to live in style," Tonks replied flippantly.

Adam merely shrugged as Tonks led them down into the kitchen. Waiting in the kitchen were Sirius and Remus.

"Professor Lupin!" Ginny exclaimed happily when she saw him.

"Hi, Ginny," Remus replied. "But I'm not your teacher anymore, so call me Remus."

"Sure, erm...Remus." Ginny replied, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Sit down guys. Let's have some tea," said Sirius.

"I'll get on with some cleaning, then, I guess," said Tonks.

"No, please stay, Tonks," Remus blurted.

Tonks nodded and sat down.

"So what do you guys normally do?" Ginny asked.

"Talk generally," Sirius said.

Adam noticed that Ginny was looking slightly uncomfortable as no one spoke for several seconds.

"Brilliant conversation," Tonks interjected.

Ginny giggled.

"Adam, do you remember what Professor Dumbledore had me doing the year before I taught at Hogwarts?" Remus asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, investigating me," Adam replied in a dull voice.

"Well, during the course of my investigation I visited a few places where you lived over the years."

"What?" Adam snapped. Even after all these years he still felt very embarrassed and ashamed of his past.

"No," Remus replied quietly. "This is something good. I think. Several people asked if you could get back in touch. I was wondering if you wanted to explore that."

"Really? Who?" Adam asked hesitantly. He struggling to remember who from his past would want to see him. He hadn't had many friends.

"Well, two people especially," replied Remus. "There was a woman named Alice, who worked at a home in Cardiff...."

Adam shuddered. "I'm not going back there," he stated flatly, he remembered when he had been left there. _"Out you get, Adam," he said._

Adam got out of the car with his backpack. He turned a looked hesitantly at the place where he had just been dropped off. _It was a large building, nothing like the house he had lived in before._ _He turned to watch his family's car pull off._

Adam felt Ginny squeeze his hand comfortingly.

"Well," Remus continued. "There were two children at a place in Bristol: Luke and Laura."

Adam stared blankly at Remus. He slowly felt himself beginning to smile as he recalled his time there. _"I-I-I don't want to go," Adam said in tears._

"Adam! You have to go," Laura replied. "You can have a family now!"

"I-I-I want to stay with you guys," Adam cried.

"You have to go Adam!" said Luke. "Please! We'll probably never get this chance! No-one wants two."

"Can I go and see them?" Adam asked, shaking his head slightly.

"Of course you can," Remus replied.

"Well, you can go after we've had some lunch, if that's not too soon," said Sirius. "Unfortunately, I can't go with you. They put my picture all over the Muggle papers." He grimaced. "We can't risk one of them recognising me."

"Oh," Adam replied. Suddenly feeling a surge of sympathy for Sirius. "I'm sure you'll be cleared soon enough," Ginny added, with a supportive smile. "Thanks, guys," Sirius replied. "Though I'm not holding out any hope for it anytime soon." After lunch, Adam and Ginny were Side-Along Apparated by Tonks and Remus to a side street in Bristol. Adam was amazed at how quickly Remus had organised things, but, he guessed, they didn't have long until it would be time to go back to school, so they either had to go now or leave it until next summer.

"Thanks for letting me come," Ginny said quietly as they walked down the street.

"Thanks for coming," Adam paused. "I'm glad you're here."

They walked in silence down the street. When they turned a corner Adam immediately recognised the house. It was still painted in bright colours, similar to how it had been all those years ago. The group began making their way down the street towards it.

"Remember guys, you can't tell them we're wizards," Remus reminded them.

"Or witches," Ginny added with a smirk.

When they reached the house, Remus walked up the path, approached the door and knocked. Adam hesitated at the gateway to the property, suddenly feeling very nervous.

"Come on, I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see you," Ginny said from his side as she took his hand.

Adam and Ginny walked hand in hand towards the house. Just as they were approaching the door it opened and a woman stood for a moment looking at them. Finally, she exchanged a few words with Remus before she ushered them into the hallway. Adam looked around searching for anything familiar in the surroundings. After a brief conversation with Remus, the woman led them into a living room; it had a small television and there were two sofas and several chairs scattered around the room. Adam could also spot books and board games piled up on various shelves around the room.

"Mr. Lupin, as you requested I didn't tell Luke and Laura that you were coming as you weren't certain when or even if you were coming," the woman began, once they were in the living room. "So I can go and fetch them now if you would like?"

"Yes, please," said Adam.

"Do you want some privacy, Adam?" Remus asked.

Adam nodded hesitantly.

Tonks, Remus and Ginny started to make their way out of the room. Ginny shot him a smile as she moved towards the doorway.

"Ginny, erm, will you stay?" Adam asked.

Ginny beamed at him. "Sure."

Remus, Tonks and the woman left the room. Adam smiled as he sat down on the sofa, and watched Ginny explore the room.

"So how long did you live here?" Ginny asked quietly.

"Only about a year... I think, but I knew Luke and Laura before I came here... since we were really little. But then I left...."

"Ahh, so was it alright here?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," Adam said. It had been alright here, it was after he left here that everything went downhill.

"Adam," Ginny began hesitantly. "What's that over there?" she asked pointing to the television.

"Oh, that's a T.V."

"What does it do?"

"You watch it," Adam replied. Noticing that Ginny still looked confused he continued. "It shows moving pictures, with sound."

"Adam!?" A voice exclaimed.

Adam turned to look in the direction of the voice. He saw two people he had never thought he would see again. Adam hesitantly stood up from the sofa and stared at the two in front of him.

"Adam!" the voice said again. This time it was an excited squeal.

Laura charged at him and wrapped him in a hug.

"I never though I'd see you again!" she gushed happily. "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"It's great to see you mate!" Luke said, as he clapped Adam on the back.

Adam grinned. "Hi, er, wow."

"Who's your friend?" Laura asked, glancing over to where Ginny was still standing near the T.V.

"Oh, this is Ginny!" Adam replied. "Ginny, this is Luke and Laura."

The four of them sat down in the living room. Adam and Ginny on the sofa while Laura and Luke took two other seats in the room.

"So how have you been, Adam?" Luke asked. "I mean it's been like... forever."

"It's been alright. I'm with some friends of my parents now and I go to a school in Scotland."

"Wow. But didn't you get adopted?" Luke asked.

"No," Adam replied coldly. "It didn't work out."

"Oh," Luke replied. "What happened?"

Adam hesitated. "Sorry, I... I-I don't want to talk about it."

Adam noticed that Ginny was looking at him with a concerned expression on her face.

"So, what's your school like?" Laura asked, obviously wanting to change the subject. "Are you doing your GCSEs this year?"

"Erm," Adam hesitated. "Yeah, we have our exams at the end of the year."

"Cool," she replied.

"Where do you go to school?" Ginny asked.

"Ashton Park," Luke replied.

"What do you do there?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Oh the usual: Maths, Science, English, French," Luke replied. He gave Ginny a strange look. "It's the same as yours, I guess."

Adam nodded.

"So how are things here?" Adam asked.

"Good. Things are going well." Laura smiled. "Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed rummaging in her pocket. "I brought this."

Laura pulled a photograph out of her pocket and passed it to Adam. It showed a young Adam sitting with Luke and Laura together on a sofa. Grinning, Adam passed it to Ginny.

"Oh, Adam!" she said, squealing in delight. "You look so cute!"

Adam blushed furiously and Ginny and Laura both giggled at his discomfort.

"So how long has it been?" Ginny asked suddenly.

"Well..." Adam mused. "I left when I was six or seven?"

"Yeah," Luke added. "I remember... it was just after our sixth birthday I think that was when the photo was taken."

"So," Adam did the sum in his head. "Nine years...."

"Wow..." Laura mused. "We had some good times though didn't we?"

Adam laughed. "Yeah, I hate that some of it is hard to remember now."

Luke and Laura nodded in agreement.

"Do you remember the funny things that seemed to happen around us?" Laura added, laughing at the memory. "Like when you were able to get the biscuits down from the shelf for us ....."

"Oh!" Luke exclaimed. "And when you were able to get the Laura's teddy back!"

"Yeah..." Adam replied with a hesitant laugh, looking over to see Ginny trying to fight the smile that was threatening to appear on her face. "I remember..."

"Adam's always been a bit odd," Ginny added teasingly causing Luke and Laura to laugh.

Adam was very thankful for her interruption, the last thing he needed was to get in trouble with the Ministry for breaking the Statute of Secrecy.

"Well, shall we get another photo taken? With the four of us?" Luke asked, after a short silence. "I've got a camera upstairs."

Once the photo was taken, the four of them talked for rest of the afternoon. Adam had to do most of the talking as he could tell that Ginny was reluctant to say too much, in case she said something silly about the Muggle world.

"Adam, Ginny, we need to get you back home," Remus called from the doorway when it was time to go.

"Oh," Adam said, slightly sadly.

"Will you come by again?" Laura asked. "Can we phone you?"

Adam hesitated. He had no idea if there was anyway that they could phone him. The Weasleys didn't have a phone.

"The phone lines are very bad where Adam lives," Remus added.

"Oh," Luke replied. "Can we write to you? I'll need some way to get you the photo to you,"

Adam looked at Remus.

"Uh," Remus hesitated. "I can give you the address of my flat and you can post it there."

With that, it was time for them to leave. Adam hugged Laura and shook Luke's hand. As they left the house, Adam could see them waving from the doorway until they turned the corner and they lost sight of the brightly painted house.

"That was brilliant," Ginny said as they walked back down the street. "I've never spent any time with Muggles our age before!"

"It was really awkward," Adam said. "I couldn't tell them much about my life."

"It's often that way when Muggle-borns enter the wizarding world. It's very easy to feel that you are no longer part of the Muggle world," Remus said sadly.

"Yeah, it felt very weird," Adam replied with a smile. "But it was brilliant to see them again. I wish we could have stayed longer."

"Well Molly wanted you back in time for dinner," Remus replied. "But we can always see about coming to visit next holiday."

"Yeah," Ginny groaned. "We've got to help Percy move to his flat tomorrow, so mum will have us all bed early tonight."

**August 20th 1995**  
_  
He was in a room. The room was filled with flickering golden light from the fire that had been lit in the grate. He was on the floor staring at the fire._

"There is a little more in the bottle, My Lord, if you are still hungry," a man's voice spoke.

"Later," said a second voice. This too belonged to a man, but it was strangely high-pitched, and cold as a sudden blast of icy wind. "Move me closer to the fire, Wormtail."

There came the clink of a bottle being put down upon some hard surface, and then the dull scraping noise of a heavy chair being dragged across the floor.

"You will milk Nagini before we retire, Wormtail," said the second voice. "I will need feeding in the night."

"My Lord, may I ask how long we are going to stay here?" Wormtail asked. "We've already had to kill the Muggle caretaker, we may have been noticed."

"We will be safe here a while yet," said the cold voice. "If you followed my orders and disposed of his body correctly, we will not be found. Besides this place is moderately comfortable, and the plan cannot proceed yet."

"Your Lordship is still determined, then?" Wormtail said quietly.

"Certainly I am determined, Wormtail." There was a note of menace in the cold voice now.

A slight pause followed and then Wormtail spoke, the words tumbling from him in a rush, as though he was forcing himself to say this before he lost his nerve. "It could be done without Harry Potter, My Lord."

"Without Harry Potter?" breathed the second voice softly. "I see."

"My Lord, I do not say this out of concern for the boy!" said Wormtail, his voice rising squeakily. "The boy is nothing to me, nothing at all! It is merely that if we were to use another witch or wizard, any wizard, the thing could be done so much more quickly! If you allowed me to leave you for a short while, you know that I can disguise myself most effectively. I could be back here in as little as two days with a suitable person."

"I could use another wizard," said the cold voice softly, "that is true. …"

"My Lord, it makes sense," said Wormtail, sounding thoroughly relieved now. "Laying hands on Harry Potter would be so difficult."

"And so you volunteer to go and fetch me a substitute? I wonder; perhaps the task of nursing me has become wearisome for you, Wormtail? Could this suggestion of abandoning the plan be nothing more than an attempt to desert me?"

"My Lord! I - I have no wish to leave you, none at all."

"Do not lie to me!" hissed the second voice. "I can always tell, Wormtail! You are regretting that you ever returned to me. I revolt you. I see you flinch when you look at me, feel you shudder when you touch me. …"

"No! My devotion to Your Lordship is complete."

"Your devotion is nothing more than cowardice. You would not be here if you had anywhere else to go. How am I to survive without you, when I need feeding every few hours? Who is to milk Nagini?"

"But you seem so much stronger, My Lord."

"Liar," breathed the second voice. "I am no stronger, and a few days alone would be enough to rob me of the little health I have regained under your clumsy care. I have my reasons for using the boy, as I have already explained to you, and I will use no other. I have waited fourteen years. A few more months will make no difference. As for the protection surrounding the boy, I believe my plan will be effective. All that is needed is a little courage from you, Wormtail, courage you will find, unless you wish to feel the full extent of Lord Voldemort's wrath."

"My Lord, I must speak!" said Wormtail, panic in his voice now. "All through our journey I have gone over the plan in my head. My Lord, Bertha Jorkins's disappearance will not go unnoticed for long, and if we proceed..."

"If?" whispered the second voice. "If? If you follow the plan, Wormtail, the Ministry need never know that anyone else has disappeared. You will do it quietly and without fuss; I only wish that I could do it myself, but in my present condition … Come, Wormtail, one more obstacle removed and our path to Harry Potter is clear. I am not asking you to do it alone. By that time, my faithful servant will have rejoined us."

"I am a faithful servant," said Wormtail, the merest trace of sullenness in his voice.

"Wormtail, I need somebody with brains, somebody whose loyalty has never wavered, and you, unfortunately, fulfil neither requirement."

"I found you," said Wormtail, and there was definitely a sulky edge to his voice now. "I was the one who found you. I brought you Bertha Jorkins."

"That is true," said the second man, sounding amused. "A stroke of brilliance I would not have thought possible from you, Wormtail, though, if truth be told, you were not aware how useful she would be when you caught her, were you?"

"I - I thought she might be useful, My Lord."

"Liar," said the second voice again, the cruel amusement more pronounced than ever. "However, I do not deny that her information was invaluable. Without it, I could never have formed our plan, and for that, you will have your reward, Wormtail. I will allow you to perform an essential task for me, one that many of my followers would give their right hands to perform. …"

"R-really, My Lord? What — ?" Wormtail sounded terrified again.

"Ah, Wormtail, you don't want me to spoil the surprise? Your part will come at the very end … but I promise you, you will have the honour of being just as useful as Bertha Jorkins."

"You … you …" Wormtail's voice suddenly sounded hoarse, as though his mouth had gone very dry. "You … are going … to kill me too?"

"Wormtail, Wormtail," said the cold voice silkily, "why would I kill you? I killed Bertha because I had to. She was fit for nothing after my questioning, quite useless. In any case, awkward questions would have been asked if she had gone back to the Ministry with the news that she had met you on her holidays. Wizards who are supposed to be dead would do well not to run into Ministry of Magic witches at wayside inns. We could have modified her memory? But Memory Charms can be broken by a powerful wizard, as I proved when I questioned her. It would be an insult to her memory not to use the information I extracted from her, Wormtail."

"One more curse... a trap to be set... the bait is already in place..." he made a soft cackling noise."... bait for our trap ... and my faithful servant at Hogwarts … Harry Potter is as good as mine, Wormtail. It is decided. There will be no more argument."

The second man's voice changed. He started hissing and spitting without drawing breath. It was almost as if he was having some sort of fit or seizure.

"Nagini," the cold voice called.

He moved from his position by the fire and moved towards the source of the voice. There was a chair facing him. He looked up and saw what was sitting in it and he felt his very being become filled with a terror unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Adam sat up sharply in bed. The right side of his forehead was burning as if someone had placed a white hot wire to his skin. He put his hand over the source of the pain. It came away sticky. _Blood_. Adam leapt out of the bed and quietly stepped out onto the landing. As he passed Ginny's bedroom he heard a soft whimpering noise from inside. _She must be having a bad dream!_ A trickle of blood down his forehead reminded Adam of the reason he had gotten out of bed and he dashed upstairs into the bathroom. He would check on Ginny once he had cleaned up the blood.

Adam looked at himself in the mirror. His face was pale and there was blood streaked over his forehead where he had smudged it with his hand. Grabbing a washcloth in his trembling hand, Adam cleaned the blood off himself and watched as it swirled away down the sink. Adam frantically wiped the sink, attempting to clean up after himself. He didn't want to worry Mrs Weasley.

With the blood finally gone, Adam looked at himself again the mirror. There was a jagged red line on the right side of his forehead, it seemed to be roughly where the pain had been coming from. Adam squinted at the line, it looked almost like a lightning bolt. As he watched, the line slowly began to fade and then it almost seemed to dissolve behind his skin.

Shrugging, Adam left the bathroom and quietly made his way back down the stairs and across the landing. As he passed Ginny's room it was now silent, so, not wanting to wake her, Adam made his way back to his room and got back into bed.

As he lay in bed Adam tried to remember the dream that had woken him. He remembered two people, one seemed vaguely familiar. He remembered being in a dark room. He was sitting by a fire place. They had been talking about someone. _Who had they been talking about?_ Adam tossed in his bed. _Him! They had been talking about him!_ _But what had they been talking about?_ Adam couldn't remember. The knowledge seem tantalisingly close, but still impossibly out of reach.

After many frustrating minutes, Adam was no closer to deciphering his dream. Giving up as a bad job, he settled back down. He hoped he could catch another few hours of sleep before Mrs Weasley woke them all. He would probably be involved in helping move all of Percy's furniture and belongings to his new flat. Percy had wanted to be closer to his work at the Ministry of Magic. Adam couldn't understand why you needed to be closer to anywhere when you could Apparate.


	5. Chapter 4

**Adam**  
**September 1st 1995**

Adam was having a dream, a very nice dream and, much to his embarrassment, all of Adam's nice dreams recently had featured Ginny.

"Bloody hell!"

Adam snapped awake. Ron and Hermione were standing just inside the door to his and Ginny's compartment on the Hogwarts express. _Oh yeah, _Adam recalled with a start. _They were on their way back to school!_

Ron was staring at him, with a look that was half anger and half complete shock. Hermione, however, was smiling.

Adam looked around the compartment. He was sitting in one corner and Ginny was snuggled up to his side still asleep. _Oh_, Adam realised. _That's probably what Ron's staring at._

"What?" Ginny asked sleepily when Adam nudged her. "Oh," she said as she sat up and saw Ron.

"So," Ron asked in a tight voice. "What's going on here?"

"Uh," Adam hesitated.

"Nothing, Ron," Ginny said in an innocent tone.

"We were just checking that everyone was getting changed and what do we find when we come in here? You two cuddled up together!"

"So?" Ginny replied defiantly.

"That's not the sort of thing that friends do!" Ron retorted.

Adam saw Ginny glance at him. They would probably have to come clean with Ron now. To be honest, Adam was tired of sneaking around. He had enough of that to do. So he nodded at Ginny.

"Adam and I have decided to start dating," Ginny answered bluntly.

Adam couldn't help but notice that Hermione smiled again at this news.

"I knew it!" Ron exclaimed looking pleased that he had figured it out. Suddenly his expression changed as the implications of Ginny's revelation dawned on him. "Hang on! You're dating? You're too young!"

"I am not!" Ginny replied hotly. "Most of the girls in my year have dated!"

"Wait till I tell Mum!"

"She already knows!"

That took Adam by surprise, but he decided to play along and nodded back at Ron.

Ron moved his mouth up and down speechlessly.

"Ron...." Adam began.

"Don't," Ron replied. "I suppose if it had to be anyone I'm glad it's you. At least we know you're decent! But don't let me catch you..." he shuddered. "...doing anything!"

Ron turned and stormed out of the compartment.

Hermione grinned at him. "Congratulations, you two! Don't worry about Ron. I don't think he's that upset," she paused. "Seriously though, we're nearly there. You need to get changed."

Adam and Ginny took turns in stepping out of the compartment so the other could get changed. It surprised Adam that he was looking forward to being back at school. He loved staying with Ginny's family, but Hogwarts was something different. It was special. This summer had been comparatively quiet. Yes, he had been dealing with the whole _Harry Potter_ thing and he had spent loads of time with Sirius, which he'd really enjoyed. However, compared two his previous two summers, he hadn't been arrested by the Ministry nor had he been forced to make a late night escape on the Knight bus. Therefore, he could quite happily classify this summer as quiet.

"Your turn," Ginny said as she emerged now dressed in her Hogwarts robes.

Adam went into the compartment and got changed. As he was putting his shoes back on he felt the train shudder to a halt. He grabbed his things and dashed out of the compartment, ready to make the journey up to the school.

When Adam and Ginny arrived in the Great Hall and took their seats for the welcoming feast, Adam scanned the staff table. He knew that Professor Lupin had left as Defence teacher, so he wondered who would be taking over. To his disappointment there were no new teachers sitting up at the staff table.

"Do you think that Professor Dumbledore didn't manage to get anyone to teach Defence?" Adam asked Ginny.

"No idea. Do you think he'll teach it himself?" Ginny questioned. "That would be cool."

The students in the Great Hall fell silent as Professor McGonagall entered with the first years following her in a nervous procession. Adam watched the Sorting with mild interested. It was remarkably uninteresting when it wasn't happening to you.

To Adam's disappointment, Professor Dumbledore did not mention anything about the new teacher before he officially started the feast. As he ate, Adam noticed that there was a single empty seat at the top table. _So they must be expecting a new teacher, but where are they?_

After the meal had finished, Professor Dumbledore stood up and gave his usual start of term announcements. Adam tuned them out, knowing that they would only be the same old boring warnings about the Forbidden Forest.

"..... and now I have the honour of announcing that our new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor...."

Professor Dumbledore's announcement immediately attracted Adam's attention.

"...who unfortunately has not yet arrived will be..." continued Professor Dumbledore.

Suddenly the doors to the Great Hall burst open. The entire school seemed to instantly spin around to see who had just entered the room. A man stood in the doorway shrouded by a cloak and leaning on a staff. He slowly hobbled towards the staff table. When he reached the table he lowered the hood of his cloak to reveal grizzled dark grey hair.

"Ahh, here he is. I have the pleasure of welcoming one of my long time associates; Professor Moody."

The man, Professor Moody, turned to face the room. His face was unlike any Adam had seen before. Every inch of it was scared and part of his nose seemed to be missing. There was also something odd about his eyes. Adam squinted in order to try to figure out what it was, and, with a jolt, he realised that one of them wasn't real. It was a completely different colour to the other eye and was rolling around as if it had a mind of its own. Then, all of a sudden, it rolled completely into the back of his head so all Adam could see of the eye was white.

"Creepy," Ginny said softly.

"Yeah," Adam replied. "Any idea who he is?"

"I don't know," Ginny replied. "I think I've heard my Dad mention him once or twice, but other than that I've no idea."

"May I have your attention?" Professor Dumbledore called. "Now you have all met your new teacher, it is time for you to head to bed!"

The entire school stood and began making their way out of the hall. Adam smiled when he saw an eager Hermione and an exasperated looking Ron shepherding the nervous first years out of the hall.

**September 2nd 1995**

"Fizzy Pops," Adam said.

The gargoyle statue that guarded the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office slid aside and Adam stepped onto the staircase. Professor Dumbledore had sent a note informing him that he needed to see him and, as much as Adam wasn't particularly fond of the man right now, he was still the Headmaster.

As it happened, this year September 1st had fallen on a Friday, giving them two free days before lessons started. So Adam had decided to get his meeting with the Headmaster out of the way as soon as possible.

Adam was just about to raise his hand to knock on the door when it opened from the inside.

"Come on in, Adam," Professor Dumbledore said as he opened the door. "Do sit down."

Adam sat down nervously in one of the chairs in the office and Professor Dumbledore sat down behind his desk.

"As you can see I've cleaned up after last time you were in here," Professor Dumbledore said lightly, gesturing to his now largely uncluttered desk.

"Um, sorry about that," Adam replied hesitantly.

"I dare say I gave you just cause to be angry with me, Adam, so don't worry about it."

Adam nodded, unsure what to say to the Professor.

"So you have been meeting with Sirius, I understand? How is that going?"

"Fine," Adam replied bluntly but truthfully. He'd had enjoyed spending time with Sirius. "He's told me stories about my parents and given me some photos," Adam continued, unable to keep a smile from appearing on his face.

Professor Dumbledore smiled back at him. "Excellent," he paused. "Have you heeded my request and not told anyone of your identity?"

"I told Ginny," Adam stated, bracing himself for a reprimand.

To Adam's surprise Professor Dumbledore smiled again. "Good, having friends around you is essential. I would caution you against telling anyone else though."

"Okay," Adam replied without enthusiasm.

"Did you receive my package on your birthday?" Professor Dumbledore asked, keeping the conversation going.

"Yes, sir." Adam replied. The cloak was brilliant but Adam wasn't going to admit that to Dumbledore.

"Your father left it with me shortly before he died. It's a Potter family heirloom, so keep it safe and try not to get into too much mischief," Professor Dumbledore replied, his eyes sparkling. It was almost as if he was giving him permission to do _some_ mischief.

Adam smiled uncertainly in response.

"I am glad your coping, Adam. Is there anything that is troubling you?"

Adam hesitated. This was his chance to ask the question.

"Sir, why were my parents attacked?"

Professor Dumbledore paused and stroked his beard.

"They were members of an organisation I formed to oppose Lord Voldemort. This made them very attractive targets," Professor Dumbledore replied. "We received intelligence he was targeting them so we arranged for them and you to go into hiding."

"Voldemort killed them himself! They must have been important targets!" Adam exclaimed.

"Adam," Professor Dumbledore began. "I can not tell you anything else about how your parents died. I am sorry."

"Fine," Adam replied sulkily.

"I am sorry, Adam."

"That was all I wanted to ask. Can I go, sir?" Adam asked coldly. "It's not as if you tell me anything."

Professor Dumbledore seemed to flinch slightly and then, after a pause, he slowly nodded. Adam immediately stood to leave the office feeling incredibly frustrated.

"Adam," Professor Dumbledore spoke suddenly as he walked towards the door. "I am sorry."

Adam simply nodded at Dumbledore, before leaving the office and making his way back to Gryffindor tower.

He didn't know if Professor Dumbledore actually knew anything about his parents or not, but if the Headmaster did, then he wasn't going to tell him.  
**  
September 4th 1995**

Today was the first day of classes, so Adam and Ginny arrived bright and early for breakfast at the Gryffindor table. As usual, Adam was sitting next to Ginny.

Since Ron now knew that he and Ginny were dating they had decided to simply come clean and stop hiding. The news that Adam and Ginny were dating had spread throughout the school, seemingly in a matter of hours. As with all new relationships, Adam guessed they would be hot gossip for a few days, maybe a week, before the next new couple was the talk of the school. Adam didn't like everyone gossiping about them, but it was a relief that he and Ginny didn't have to sneak around anymore.

"Ginny!" Adam heard Hermione's voice from further down the table. "Your Dad's in the paper!"

Hermione passed Ginny the paper and Adam watched her reaction as she read it.

"What a load of rubbish!" Ginny exclaimed and she threw the paper down in disgust.

"What was it?" Adam asked.

"Moody apparently called the Ministry and Dad went to help him. But it was a false alarm and he ended up having to modify the memories of some Muggle erm..." Ginny hesitated. "Po-lice-men?"

"Policemen, like Aurors but for Muggles," Adam informed her.

"Thanks, well Dad had to modify some of their memories. The paper is saying he embarrassed the Ministry!"

"Well, what do the papers know?" Adam said agreeing with Ginny. "Your Dad's brilliant!"

"Thanks," Ginny replied sullenly. "I still wish he wasn't in the paper."

Adam realised that the Great Hall was beginning to empty. "We should get to Potions," he said, checking his watch.

Adam and Ginny arrived at the Potions classroom right on time and sat at a desk together near the back of the room.

"Potions first thing on Monday morning!" Ginny grumbled.

"Well, at least it's over at the beginning of the week," Adam consoled her.

"Silence!" Professor Snape ordered as he swept into the room. "That means you, Winters!" He snapped as he passed Adam and Ginny's desk.

Adam looked at Ginny confusedly. He hadn't been making much noise.

"Today, we are going to start brewing more advanced potions in preparation for your OWLs next year and due to the nature of this potion, for today and today only you will be working in pairs," Professor Snape waved his wand and writing appeared on the blackboard behind him. "Today's potion is quite..." He paused, "...topical I think. It's a parentage potion."

Adam swore under his breath, it was almost like Snape was referring to him.

"Mr. Winters, unless you have something you wish to share with the class be quiet!" Snape barked glaring at him. "The function of this potion is to serve as a base to which you add two samples of blood. If the two samples are parent and child then the potion will turn green. The instructions are on the board. Begin!"

Coming to a silent agreement, Adam began preparing their equipment while Ginny went to fetch the ingredients.

"He knows!" Ginny hissed to Adam when she returned.

"I know!" Adam muttered angrily as he began to cut up the first of the ingredients. "I bet Dumbledore told him!"

The potion was difficult, one of the most difficult that Adam and Ginny had done so far.

"Adam, no!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly as Adam was adding an ingredient.

"What?"

Ginny sighed. "You didn't crush the Beetle's eyes!"

"It doesn't say to crush them," Adam replied.

"Yes, it does!"

Adam looked at the book. He sighed. "I read the wrong line, you add the rat spleen as it is and crush the Beetle's eyes."

Adam looked warily at their potion. It had turned a rather sickly green colour and had started to froth.

"I don't think that's supposed to happen," Ginny groaned.

Adam and Ginny had to work together to quickly siphon off the large amount of froth their potion was generating. Eventually, it stopped frothing, but their cauldron was now nearly empty.

"A completely botched Potion; Winters, Weasley," Professor Snape sneered when he came to inspect their potion. He leaned close to them and whispered. "But I don't suppose now that you will have any further need of this potion," he stood up tall. "That will be ten points from Gryffindor. Each."

Adam and Ginny both sat sulking until the end of the lesson. Fortunately, Snape didn't pay any further attention to either of them.

"I hate Snape!" Ginny raged as they left the classroom.

"I'm sorry for messing up our potion," said Adam meekly.

"Don't worry," Ginny reassured him. "But how did he know?"

"I don't know," Adam said glumly. "But he seems to hate me now! He's never treated me any different from the rest of the Gryffindors, but twice today he singled me out."

"Just try to ignore it," said Ginny.

Adam sighed.

"Anyway, let's forget about Snape. What have we got next?" said Ginny, trying to brighten the mood.

"Defence," Adam replied, sounding hopeful.

In Adam's opinion, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors had been getting better every year. Lockhart had been useless. Jones had been better. Remus had been even better. So maybe Moody would be the best yet.

They arrived at the Defence classroom, sat down at their usual desk and waited eagerly for their first lesson with Professor Moody. The Professor was currently sitting at his desk completing his register as they entered.

"Well," Professor Moody announced to the class as he stood up. "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin and you're behind, very behind, with your knowledge on how to deal with dark curses. And that is what I will be teaching you this year."

The class seemed to inhale in excitement. This sounded good.

"Now, the Ministry doesn't want me to show you what an illegal curse looks like until you're in the sixth year. However, Professor Dumbledore has given me permission to show you. I will teach you what these curses look like and how to stop them."

Adam felt slightly unnerved. Professor Moody's fake eye seemed to be spending an undue amount of time focusing on him.

"Now curses come in many different strengths and types," Professor Moody stated. "Can anyone tell me which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Several hands raised tentatively into the air. Adam notice Ginny had rather hesitantly put her hand up. Professor Moody turned and pointed at her.

"Er, my Dad mentioned one. I think it's called the Imperius Curse," Ginny said hesitantly.

"Ah yes," Professor Moody replied. "Your father would know about that one. It caused the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Professor Moody strode to his desk, opened a drawer and took out a jar. Inside the jar there were several large spiders. He reached inside, took one out and placed it on the desk.

"_Imperio_," Professor Moody muttered at the spider.

The spider immediately started dancing around on the desk and the class burst into laughter.

"Think it's funny?" he growled.

The laughter died.

"The next person that laughs will have this done to them," he threatened. "This spell gives you total control. I could even make the spider kill itself. This spell was used to control many witches and wizards years back. Very difficult it was to sort out who was acting of their own will and who was controlled."

Professor Moody picked up the spider and tossed it back into the jar.

"The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared to the room. Every student jumped.

"Well, does anyone else know another illegal curse?"

This time no hands were raised.

Professor Moody tutted loudly. "I'll tell you then. The Cruciatus Curse."

He took another spider and placed it on the desk.

"_Engorgio_."

The spider grew to a size larger than any spider Adam had ever seen. Well, except the ones in the Forbidden Forest.

"_Crucio_."

The spider suddenly began to twitch horribly. It rocked from side to side. As time past the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently. Eventually, Professor Moody removed his wand, shrunk the spider, and placed it back into the jar.

"Pain. The one and only purpose of this curse is to cause pain. This was very popular once, too," he paused, for what felt like ages. "Anyone know another?"

Once again no hands were raised.

"The last and the worse of these Unforgivable Curses," Moody supplied. "The Killing Curse. Its incantation is _Avada Kedavra_."

The room waited in awed silence as Professor Moody took another spider out of the jar and placed it on his desk.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" he roared.

A bright green light shot out of the end of his wand and hit the spider. Instantaneously, it flopped limply onto the desk. Several of the students stifled cries. Adam felt himself involuntarily tense. So that was the spell he saw when Dementors were near. That was the curse that had killed his parents.

"Not nice. Not pleasant," Professor Moody continued. "There's no counter-curse. No one has ever survived it."

Adam felt unnerved as Professor Moody's fake eye once against focused on him.

Adam had spent a fair amount of time trying to piece together what had happened the night his parents had been killed. He knew his mum had been killed by that curse, but Sirius had also told him that there hadn't been much left of his mum's body. Pettigrew must have done something. The thought of that _traitor_ damaging his parents' bodies after they had died filled him with a tremendous anger.

"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it, you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it," Professor Moody continued. "Now, if there's no counter-curse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE," he finished with a roar. "These are Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance."

They spent the rest of the lesson copying down notes on what they had covered and, as Adam was packing his bag at the end of the lesson, he felt more drained than he had for any other lesson as long as he'd been at Hogwarts.

**September 30th 1995**

"GINNY!!!!" Adam screamed at the top of his lungs. "GO GINNY!!!!"

It was the first Quidditch match of the season and Adam watched intently as Ginny streaked across the sky dashing towards the Snitch, which had appeared for a split second at the far end of the pitch. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, despite having a year off, were performing well. The new captain, Angelina Johnson, had scheduled many hours of practice for the team, which included Adam as the reserve Seeker.

They had this year, however, needed to recruit a new Keeper. They'd had several people try out for the position, but the best candidate had been Ron Weasley. Cormac McLaggen, who had been the reserve in previous years, didn't even show up for the trials. Adam suspected foul play by Fred and George. Not surprisingly, Ron wasn't anywhere near as good as Oliver Wood had been, but he was still able to block shots with a decent amount of skill.

Well, at least he had in training. To be honest, Ron hadn't performed well this game, having let in seventeen goals so far. However, the Gryffindor Chasers and Beaters had proved to be on top form and were able to limit the damage. So currently, Gryffindor were only fifty points behind.

However, Ginny had seen the Snitch and was at present closing on it. Draco Malfoy was also closing rapidly; he had been shadowing Ginny all match, letting her do all the work, and was now more or less following her towards the Snitch. He had by far the best broom in the school because of his rich father, and, in Adam's opinion, having the superior equipment was the only reason he was ever able to catch the Snitch.

Suddenly, the Snitch moved and Adam spotted it now hovering about halfway up the Slytherin goalposts. Ginny and Malfoy were now neck and neck, and Malfoy's larger green clad form was now obscuring his view of Ginny. They both continued to close in on the Snitch, neither able to gain any lead on the other.

Adam watched intently as Ginny was once again obscured from sight. Suddenly Adam let out a strangled cry of horror. He saw a body in red Gryffindor robes falling towards the ground.

It hit the ground and didn't move.

Adam's stomach plummeted in horror and he felt worse than he could ever remember feeling. Ginny was sprawled on the ground. She wasn't moving.

His shock and horror was soon replaced by fury when he saw Draco Malfoy, still on his broom, hovering over where Ginny had hit the ground. He was circling her mockingly with the Snitch in his hand. Adam was sure he was laughing.

Ginny was lying on the ground completely motionless, although Adam could see the rest of the team were rapidly charging towards her. Adam too began moving, he pushed his way through the stands, shoving his fellow Gryffindors out of the way. He didn't care about anything else, he needed to get to Ginny. Eventually, Adam reached the pitch side and he charged out onto the field running as fast as he could towards where Ginny had fallen. His legs felt weak and he felt as if he was about to be sick.

By the time he reached her, Madam Hooch was already at her side and thankfully Ginny now seemed to be moving slightly, groaning in pain. Adam felt a wave of relief sweep over him. _She was okay, she was okay._

"She needs to go to the Hospital Wing," Angelina told him.

Adam nodded jerkily.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team stood together as Madam Hooch levitated Ginny away. Adam moved to follow her.

"Not such a good flier now, is she," Draco Malfoy sneered once Madam Hooch was out of earshot.

The entire Gryffindor Team turned as one to face him. All of them looked furious.

"You attacked my sister! You stinking little ferret!" Ron roared and drew his wand.

"A terrible accident," Malfoy exclaimed, with an obviously fake expression on his face.

That was it. Adam strode forward toward Malfoy and stared at him. They were less than a foot apart and Adam saw that Malfoy had his wand in his hand.

"What are you going to do, Winters?"

Adam didn't reply. Instead, he swung his fist, which connected with Malfoy's nose with a satisfying crunch. Malfoy, obviously not expecting a physical attack, was taken completely by surprise and fell backwards. He sat on the floor in total shock with blood trickling down his nose.

The rest of the Gryffindor team cheered as Adam spun around and stormed off. He even got a slap on the back from Ron. Adam realised that punching Malfoy was going to get him into trouble, but it had been worth it. He'd hurt Ginny!

Adam stormed back towards the castle, needing to get to the Hospital Wing and make sure that Ginny was alright.

Once he reached the Hospital Wing, Adam was forced to wait outside until Madam Pomfrey had finished treating Ginny's injuries. Several others on the Gryffindor team joined him, including, Ron, Fred and George.

After what felt like hours the door creaked open. "You can go in and visit her now," Madam Pomfrey announced from the doorway.

Adam leapt up, dashed into the hospital wing and raced down the room searching for Ginny.

Adam froze when he saw her. She was lying in a bed, with her arms stretched out on top of the covers, looking very pale.

"Oh, Ginny," Adam said in a distressed voice.

The rest of the Weasleys caught up with him and they too stared at her lying in bed.

"She's going to be fine," Madam Pomfrey announced. "She was rather incoherent, so I've given her a Dreamless Sleep potion."

"W-w-what's wrong with her?" Adam stammered.

"Nothing too serious," Madam Pomfrey replied in a kindly tone. A broken arm, a broken leg, lots of bruises and a concussion."

Adam nodded weakly and walked towards her bed and reached out to touch her. He hesitated, not knowing if he should.

"I've healed it all," prompted Madam Pomfrey. "She'll just need to sleep it off."

Adam sat down next to the bed and gripped her hand. Ron went and sat down on the opposite side.

The four of them, three Weasleys and Adam, sat there for nearly two hours, while Ginny slept.

"Alright guys," Fred announced. "She's going to be fine. We're going to head off and get changed. We'll be back after dinner."

"Okay," Ron replied, standing up. "I've come too. I'll be back in a bit."

"I'll stay here," Adam said in a quiet voice.

"Are you sure, mate?" George asked.

"Yeah," Adam replied. "Someone needs to be here when she wakes up."

"Okay, I'll.... erm," Ron hesitated, looking torn between staying and going.

"She'll be fine, Ron," Adam reassured him.

"Okay... I'll be back in a few hours, then," Ron answered. "You can take a break then if you want."

Adam sat there holding Ginny's hand for couple more hours. Then, he suddenly noticed that it was dark outside. He stood up and looked out of the window, it was practically night.

"Damn," Adam muttered. He must have missed dinner!

"Adam?" Ginny called feebly from the bed.

Adam dashed back across to the bed, leaned over to look her in the eye and said. "Hi."

She looked up, and seeing him, smiled widely. "Hi!" she said, sounding brighter now.

"How are you feeling?" Adam asked, his face breaking into a massive grin.

Ginny started wiggling in the bed. She lifted her arms up and began to flex them. She then attempted to sit up. Adam saw immediately that she was struggling, so he helped her sit upright and arranged her pillows behind her.

"Thanks," Ginny said in a tight voice. "What happened? My arms are all tingly, my head hurts, everything aches and I feel so tired."

"What do you remember?" Adam asked.

Ginny's face scrunched up in thought. "Last thing I remember was flying towards the Snitch." Ginny flinched slightly. "What actually happened?"

Adam sat down in the chair next to her bed.

"I'm not sure," Adam replied honestly. "I think Draco Malfoy knocked you off your broom," he said.

"Oh," she replied in a small voice. "I fell?"

"Yeah."

Ginny sat there in a silence, suddenly looking even more tired that she had a few minutes ago.

"Did he get the Snitch?" she blurted suddenly.

"Yeah."

Ginny's shoulders sagged in disappointment. "Did he at least get detention or something?" Ginny asked, sadly. "For y'know, knocking me off my broom?"

"No," Adam replied. "But all the Gryffindors are furious with him," Adam said.

"Oh," Ginny said, then her eye's narrowed. "You look guilty! What did you do?"

"Erm..." Adam hesitated.

Ginny glared at him. "Spill."

"Okay. I kinda punchedhimonthenose," Adam said hurriedly.

Ginny stared at him for a second. Then she burst out laughing. Adam grinned in response, happy to see Ginny looking better.

"Oh, Adam," she said, still giggling slightly. "You didn't have to punch him for me. But thanks...I guess."

"I expect I'll get a detention for it or something," said Adam. "But it was worth it!"

"I bet Snape will go nuts," Ginny mused.

"Well, they can hardly expel _me_ can they?" Adam said with an exaggerated wink.

Ginny chuckled. "I better warn Madam Pomfrey. If they aren't careful they won't be able to get your big head out of the door."

Adam stifled a laugh, clasped Ginny's hand and said. "I should probably go and tell Madam Pomfrey you're awake." 


	6. Chapter 5

**Adam**  
**October 7th 1995**

Today was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year and, much to Adam's joy, this year he was allowed to go. _No more sneaking through the tunnel to Honeydukes to get into the village!_ Adam thought triumphantly.

After the events of last weekend, Adam thought that both he and Ginny deserved some recreation. Ginny, much to Adam's relief, had been released from the hospital wing the day after the Quidditch match and Adam had duly completed the detentions that Professor McGonagall had given him during the week. He didn't regret punching Malfoy and would do it again in an instant if he tried to hurt Ginny.

However, Adam was determined to try and put all of that out of his mind and enjoy his day out with Ginny.

Adam and Ginny walked hand in hand through Hogsmeade. Their first port of call was Honeydukes, where Adam, taking advantage of his new found wealth, bought sweets for both of them.

"I'd like to get some of your family Christmas presents," Adam told Ginny as they discussed where to go next. "This is probably my only chance to do some shopping."

"Adam, you don't have to!" Ginny exclaimed. "And how will you explain where you got the money?"

"If I only buy a few small things I can say there was some spending money in with the money the school gives me."

Ginny seemed unconvinced.

"Even if they ask Professor Dumbledore he's hardly going to say anything! He wants it kept a secret as much as me!"

Ginny finally relented and they spent the morning going around the shops. Adam bought several gifts for the Weasleys and he debated whether or not he should get something for Ginny while they were out. He decided against it, he wanted her gift to be a surprise. Plus, she wouldn't let him spend much money and Adam wanted to get her something special.

As the two of them, having finished their shopping, were walking back towards the Three Broomsticks they heard a dog barking. Adam spun around and saw a large black dog following them up the street. Once the dog saw them, it darted away down a side street.

Immediately realising what the dog was, Adam and Ginny followed it through the streets of Hogsmeade. Leaving the town and climbing up a hill, they eventually reached a small cave where the dog stopped.

"Alright guys?" Sirius asked, once he had transformed.

"Sirius!" Adam exclaimed, stepping forward and shaking his hand. "Why haven't you written or anything?"

"The Ministry is monitoring postal owls. They know I'm in the country, so they're trying to catch me by tracing any letters sent to me or any that might be from me," Sirius explained sadly. "So that means you shouldn't write to me. At least for now."

"Oh, okay," Adam said sadly.

"So how have things been?" Sirius asked, sitting down on the grass near the cave.

Adam and Ginny sat down next to him.

"Good, thanks. Ginny got injured in the last Quidditch game though."

"What happened?"

"Draco Malfoy deliberately knocked her off her broom."

"What?!" Sirius exploded. "Bloody Malfoys!"

"Yeah," Adam replied hesitantly. "I punched him."

"Good lad. You gotta protect your girl," Sirius replied with a wink and slapped Adam on the back.

Adam felt himself blushing at the praise he wasn't sure he deserved.

"I'm right here!" Ginny exclaimed loudly.

"Sorry," Adam and Sirius apologised.

"Boys!" Ginny exclaimed, with an amused expression her face.

They all laughed and Ginny shared out some of their sweets with Sirius.

"So how have your classes been?" Sirius asked.

"Good. Professor Moody is really good!" said Ginny enthusiastically. "Though Snape has been picking on Adam. We think Dumbledore's told him."

"Really?" Sirius mused. "Dumbledore does trust Snape. That might explain why he's told him. And well," Sirius paused. "Snape and your dad were kind-of rivals at school. That probably explains why he's now taken a disliking to you."

"What happened in school between them?" Adam asked curiously, he was always eager to hear anything about his parents.

"Well," Sirius hesitated. "We... James and I... Used to well, pick on him."

"Oh," Adam replied, feeling shocked.

"I'm not proud of it, and neither was your father. But it does explain why Snape dislikes you."

"I am anything like my dad?" Adam asked, suddenly. He remembered being picked on by other kids when he went to primary school and hated to think that his dad had perhaps been a bully.

"Well," replied Sirius hesitantly. "I expect from what you were like as a baby, that underneath all those spells you look quite like him, but your personality is much closer to Lily's."

Adam couldn't help but smile at the comparison to his parents. "Thanks."

Sirius was silent for several seconds, as if he didn't know what else to say.

"Did you get chance to ask Albus about your parents?" Sirius questioned, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, he said he didn't know anything," Adam replied.

"Hmm, something doesn't add up. Albus ran the Order of the Phoenix when You-Know-Who was around. He must know."

"He says he doesn't know," Adam reiterated. "But I wouldn't put it past him to just not want to tell me."

"Hmm, I'll see if I can dig anything up. He was after them for some reason. Someone else must know why!"

"Thanks, Sirius," Adam said brightly. Perhaps Sirius would have more luck in solving the mystery.

"Right. I think you guys need to get back to the village before you're missed," Sirius said as he glanced at his watch.

"When will we see you again?" Adam asked as they stood up.

"I'll make arrangements to see you over Christmas," replied Sirius with smile. "I'll cook up a Christmas dinner for us."

"Brilliant!"

"Can I come, too?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"Of course, as long as your mum's happy with you coming."

"We'll have to come up with some excuse," Ginny said, turning to Adam.

"Right," Sirius said looking at his watch again. "You guys need to go. I don't want you to get caught out here with me."

With the conversation over, Adam stared a Sirius for a second before hugging him awkwardly. Adam and Ginny then turned and began walking back towards the village. Just before they lost sight of the cave, they turned back to wave, but Sirius had already vanished.

Sighing, Adam and Ginny walked back towards the village. Adam wished he could see Sirius more often, he hardly ever got to see him. He was his godfather! He should be able to see him as often as he wanted.

"Shall we head to the Broomsticks?" Ginny asked brightly, as if sensing his sombre mood.

"Yep," Adam replied, making a concerted effort to be more cheerful. He held out his arm with a grin. "Shall we?"  
**  
** **October 18th 1995**

Defence Against the Dark Arts was once again firmly entrenched as Adam's favourite subject. Professor Moody was proving to be an excellent teacher. His lessons were challenging, fun and, most importantly to Adam, they were actually using some very cool and useful spells. So every Wednesday, the thought that the day finished with Defence Against the Dark Arts got Adam through the other rather boring lessons he had: History of Magic, Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy.

After their Arithmancy lesson, Adam and Ginny arrived in the Defence classroom ahead of the rest of the class and sat at their usual desk.

"Today's lesson will be a practical lesson! So books away!" Professor Moody announced once the rest of the class had arrived. "I will be placing the Imperius Curse on each of you. You must do your best to resist it," he instructed them, as he paced back and forth at the front of the classroom.

The class was silent. Professor Moody waved his wand and the desks all slid aside.

"Professor Dumbledore has given me special permission to use this curse today. He wants you to know what the curse feels like. Now," Professor Moody paused. "Creevey, you first!"

Professor Moody pointed his wand at Colin and the class watched in amazement as he danced around the classroom, performing a variety of pirouettes before finishing with a curtsy.

Adam watched in amusement as his other classmates hopped and danced around. Ginny was particularly amused at the antics of her room-mates.

"Weasley, you next."

Adam squeezed Ginny's hand encouragingly. She had suddenly gone very pale.

When Professor Moody placed Ginny under the spell she began to move across the room and twirled. However, after only a few seconds she stopped and looked confusedly around the room. Professor Moody moved his wand and again Ginny began to twirl around. However once again, she soon stopped, looking dazed.

"Well done, Miss Weasley!" Professor Moody exclaimed. "Listen, you lot! She was able to resist the curse after only a few seconds under my control. Twenty points to Gryffindor."

Ginny returned to Adam's side, still looking pale.

"You okay?" Adam asked.

"Yeah..." Ginny began shakily.

"Winters! Are you listening to me? Your turn."

Adam walked nervously to the centre of the room. He saw Professor Moody point his wand at him.

_Run across the room._

Adam felt his leg begin to move.

_Why?_

Adam stopped moving.

_Run across the room._

No. I don't want to.

The next thing Adam knew he was lying on the floor. Apparently, one of his legs had tried to walk across the room, while the other hadn't.

"Well done, Winters!" Professor Moody exclaimed. "Another twenty points to Gryffindor!"

Adam got to his feet and returned to stand next to Ginny. He noticed the rest of the class were staring at him and Ginny. _Great!_ He thought._ More attention on us._

"That's all for today. Before next lesson I want you to all read up on resisting the Imperius Curse!" Professor Moody announced, finishing the lesson once all of the class had taken their turn.

As the class began filing out of the classroom, Professor Moody's voice rang out again. "Winters! Stay behind."

Adam and Ginny waited in the classroom until the others had filed out. Once the classroom was empty Adam approached Professor Moody's desk.

"Unless the two of you have married secretly, then your name is definitely not Winters!" he said pointing to Ginny. "I didn't ask to see you, so get out!"

Ginny huffed loudly and stormed out of the classroom.

"That was mean," Adam said. "I wouldn't have minded her staying."

Professor Moody simply shrugged. He waved his wand and the door slammed shut.

"I've wanted to have a private talk to you for a while," he paused. "_Harry_."

Adam tensed.

"Don't worry, Dumbledore told me. He wanted me to keep an eye on you," he paused, taking a swig from his flask. "You're a good kid and I know Dumbledore has kept a lot from you recently. At the end of the day this is your life and I believe you have a right to know everything."

"Yeah!" Adam agreed, feeling a surge of excitement. "He wont even tell me what really happened to my parents," he blurted suddenly.

Moody stared at him for a second.

"Dumbledore knows and won't tell me," Adam continued weakly, trying to explain himself.

"Well, I think you already know the answer to that. Voldemort was after them. So they went into hiding. But he found them when Pettigrew betrayed them."

"Yes," Adam replied. "I know that. But why was he after them? What had they ever done to him?"

"They were members of the Order of the Phoenix," Moody replied.

"So were many others. But they didn't go into hiding and Voldemort didn't come to kill them personally!"

"Okay," Professor Moody said taking another swig of his flask. He lowered his voice. "I _really_ shouldn't tell you this. But I heard something Dumbledore said once. Something about a Prophecy."

"A Prophecy?" Adam questioned, feeling a surge of excitement. At last some new information!

"Yes, that's all I know, and I shouldn't even know that," Professor Moody paused. "It's Dumbledore's biggest secret."

"Thank you! It's a start at least. I need to know what happened."

"If you need anything, you can come to me, lad," Professor Moody replied.

"Thanks, sir!" Adam exclaimed.

"One more thing," Professor Moody said gravely. "Don't tell Albus about this. He doesn't want you to know. He could pluck the memory of you ever knowing about the Prophecy right out of your mind."

Adam gulped. Would Dumbledore really do that to him?

Feeling strangely buoyant with this new information, Adam burst out of the classroom and nearly bumped into Ginny who was leaning on the wall outside. She still looked rather pale.

"Are you okay?" Adam asked.

"Yeah," Ginny replied. "That spell just reminded me of the Diary."

Adam pulled Ginny into a hug.

"You fought it, though! You beat it! It may have been able to control you when you were eleven, but not now!"

"Thanks!" Ginny replied with a grin and she gave Adam a quick kiss.

"So what did Moody want?" Ginny asked as they walked down the corridor.

Adam glanced around to make sure the corridor was empty.

"He says a Prophecy was the reason my parents were attacked," Adam said in a hushed voice.

Ginny thought for a second. "Well, it's not much, but it's a start. We should do some research on Prophecies."

"Yeah," Adam said. "I mean, they're like someone predicting the future, aren't they?"

"Yeah, I think," replied Ginny. "I really don't know where to start researching though."

"Let's ask Hermione," Adam suggested.

Ginny nodded in agreement. "We can probably nab her now, at dinner."

Adam and Ginny walked down to the Great and Hall and deliberately sought out Hermione at the Gryffindor table.

"Hi, Hermione," Ginny said as she approached the table.

"Oh, fine," Ron said with a wave of his fork. "Don't say hi to your own brother!"

"Hi, guys," Hermione said with an exasperated look at Ron, as they approached. "How's it going?"

"Oh, fine," Ginny replied. "Actually, we were wondering if you might be able to help us find some information, after dinner of course."

"Oh, okay. What are you after?"

"Were looking for anything on Prophecies."

"Oh, that sounds like Divination." Hermione replied. "We can go and look in the library and grab a book after dinner."

"A load of rubbish if you ask me," Ron said between bites of food.

"Well," Hermione replied carefully. "I'm not convinced about Divination myself, but there is definitely a lot of literature about it."

After they had eaten dinner, Adam and Ginny followed Hermione up to the library. Ron and Neville however, politely declined the offer of accompanying them.

"Ron and Neville aren't as committed to revision as I am. I try to do an hour at least every night, to get ready for my OWLs," Hermione commented as they entered the library.

Hermione seemed to know exactly where she was going and she led them right to a specific section of the library, where she rapidly disappeared between some shelves. Adam and Ginny quickly followed and they found her levitating a book down to them. She opened the book and started flicking through.

"Here we go... 'A Prophecy is a prediction made by a Seer. Generally, a Prophecy is made involuntarily. When the Seer is telling the Prophecy, they are generally unaware'."

"Okay," Adam said.

"That doesn't tell us much more than the obvious," Hermione said. She continued flicking through the book.

"Here's some more. 'Due to the high percentage of Prophecies that come true, they are all recorded by the Ministry of Magic. The memory of the person to whom the Prophecy was made is copied by the Ministry and recorded, along with information pertaining to the Seer that made the Prophecy, the person that witnessed the Prophecy and the person that the Prophecy is about.'"

"So the Ministry has all Prophecies recorded?" Adam queried.

"Well, according to this. I must admit I didn't know about these records."

"Can we have the book? We'll read through it in our own time."

"Sure," Hermione said brightly. "Why did you need to know all this?"

"It was just something Professor Moody said, made me curious," Ginny said as she gestured to the book. "This probably has far more information that we'll ever need."

"Oh, okay," Hermione replied, looking slightly downcast.

"Thanks a lot, Hermione!" Adam said. "We're going to head back to the common room now, are you coming?"

"Oh, no," Hermione replied. "I need to get some books for my revision, but you guys go ahead."

Adam and Ginny dashed out of library, checking out the book as they left. When they returned to the common room they sat down and poured over the book, re-reading all the relevant sections together.

"So if there was a Prophecy about my parents, then it must be in the Ministry of Magic," Adam surmised.

"Yeah," Ginny replied. "We could ask Professor Moody or Sirius,"

"Yep," Adam agreed. "Let's ask Moody and we can ask Sirius when we see him at Christmas."

**December 25th 1995**

Adam sat at the kitchen table at The Burrow, eating another delicious meal cooked by Mrs Weasley. This was his second Christmas with the Weasleys and he'd, once again, had an amazing time. To make things even better, for the first time he had some money and had been able to buy some presents, although he had to be careful not to buy anything too expensive.

The arrival of the Christmas break had been a very welcome rest for Adam and Ginny. Even though their OWLs weren't until next year, many teachers were already starting to pile on the work to prepare for them. Professor McGonagall was probably the worst for that, Adam was sure she had set double the amount of essays as last year! Over the last few weeks, Adam had found Potions becoming increasingly difficult too. The work itself had increased in both difficulty and quantity, not to mention that Professor Snape had continued to single him out. The most frustrating thing about having his potion repeatedly marked 'failed' was that because Ginny always sat next to him, Snape ended up taking it out on her too.

Professor Moody's lessons had continued to be excellent. Although none had been as dramatic as the lesson on the Unforgivable Curses, he was still a very good teacher. However, he had not yet been able to find any further information on Prophecies, but Adam supposed that the information on that would be top secret. Adam expected it would take Professor Moody some time to find anything out. Even so, Adam still intended to ask Sirius when he saw him in a couple of days time.

Once Christmas dinner was finished Adam, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny all helped clear up the table. Percy, much to Mrs Weasleys irritation, hadn't come for Christmas dinner. Apparently he was too busy with work.

"Thanks, everyone! I'll sort the rest out. Go and have some fun!" Mrs Weasley said once the dishes were removed from the table and placed ready for washing up.

"Adam, can I have a word please," she said as they were trooping out of the room.

Adam waited patiently for the others to leave the room, seeing Ginny shoot him a concerned look as she left. He hoped he wasn't in trouble somehow.

"Now, Adam, we really appreciate the presents you got us! Thank you! But I know you don't have much money.... so you shouldn't have spent that on us," said Mrs Weasley, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"But, Mrs Weasley," Adam replied, he had been half expecting this conversation. "You've been so kind to me, I just wanted to give you all something. I had some spending money from the school and I wanted to spend it on those I consider my family."

"Oh, Adam," Mrs Weasley said with a wide smile. "I know. I'm just saying you don't have to buy us things."

Deciding it was better not to argue Adam simply replied. "Okay, Mrs Weasley. Thanks for the lovely dinner."

"You're welcome, Adam," she replied, hugging him.

Adam wandered back out into the living room, looking for Ginny.

"What was that about?" she asked, from her position on the sofa.

"Me spending money on presents," Adam replied, in a slightly defeated tone. Ginny had told him this would happen.

"Told you so," Ginny replied, sticking her tongue out.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for the sweets, mate," Ron replied, looking slightly red.

"Cheers," Adam replied.

"Anyway, guess who Ron got a present from," Ginny said cheekily.

Ron flushed red again.

Adam shrugged his shoulders.

Ron sighed. "Okay, it was from Hermione, alright?"

"What's embarrassing about that?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, really," Ron replied, still looking slightly red.

"You did get her a present, didn't you?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, of course. I even invited her over for Christmas, but her parents wanted her to stay home."

"Shame," said Adam. "What about Neville?"

"Oh, his Gran won't let him come visit. Never has. She didn't even let him come to the World Cup."

"That's strange," said Adam. "Any idea why?"

"Nope, I guess his Grandma is just quite strict."

"Hang on," Ginny asked. "Why his grandma? What about his parents?"

Ron froze. "He doesn't live with them. He's never mentioned them."

"Strange," remarked Ginny.

"Don't ask him," Adam told them, remembering how uncomfortable he felt about his past. "If he doesn't want to tell you, don't pry."

"Oh," Ron said, looking a little uncomfortable. Adam guessed he probably had probably already attempted to pry.

"Hey, how about we get the twins and have a game of Quidditch?" Ginny asked, interrupting the slightly awkward silence. "It's not too cold out."

Adam grinned. "Sounds good."

"Right, let's go then!"

Ginny dashed upstairs to get Fred and George, and Ron and Adam dashed outside to get the brooms. There was never a bad time for Quidditch.  
**  
December 30th 1995**

"Happy Christmas!" Sirius said, grinning from ear to ear as Adam and Ginny entered Number Twelve Grimmauld Place with Remus.

Now that all the Christmas festivities at the Burrow were over, Mrs Weasley had consented to allow Ginny to come and visit with Adam. Of course, she didn't know they were going to visit Sirius Black, _wanted criminal_.

Adam still felt guilty that he and Ginny had to lie to the rest of the Weasleys, but there was no other way around it. What would they think if he told them he was Harry Potter?

Sirius pulled Adam and then Ginny into a hug as they closed the door behind them.

"Come to the kitchen. I've got some food on!" he exclaimed, almost bouncing with excitement.

They walked down into the kitchen and Adam paused in shock. Sirius really had outdone himself. The table was loaded with a large cake, trifle and other treats.

"Wow!" Ginny exclaimed.

The four of them sat down in the kitchen and tucked into the food that Sirius had provided.

"This is really good, Sirius," Adam replied with a grin as he filled his bowl with trifle.

"Thanks!" Sirius replied. "It's a rule at Christmas that you must eat as much food that's bad for you as possible."

"Where's Tonks today, Remus?" Ginny asked with a cheeky smile, as she cut herself a piece of cake.

To Adam's private delight Remus blushed slightly. "Oh, she's with her mum and dad," he replied, slightly evasively.

Ginny winked at Adam. She had a theory that Tonks and Remus were seeing each other and, to be honest, Adam thought it was probably true. Remus however was saying nothing.

"Couldn't she come today?" Ginny said sadly. She really liked Tonks.

Remus shook his head. "She's been working long shifts at the Ministry and today has been her first day off for weeks."

"Oh."

"Did you hear about the incident a couple of days back?" Sirius asked. "Tonks ended up having to sort that out."

"Right old mess it was, too," Remus agreed.

"What happened?"

"I've got a newspaper around here. I'll show it to you later," Sirius said. "Nothing dramatic. Just an internal mess for the Ministry."

Once the four friends had finished as much of the food as they could eat, they went and sat around the fire. After they were settled, Sirius rummaged in a pile of discarded papers, pulled one out and handed it to Adam.

**Senior Ministry Official Taken Ill**

A senior Ministry Official was taken ill yesterday. Bartemius Crouch Sr., head of the Department of Magical Cooperation, was found wandering the corridors of the Ministry of Magic late last night. Mr. Crouch was found on level 9 of the Ministry. He was wandering in a daze and was apparently unable to communicate with Ministry security who found him. It is believed that in his confused state Mr Crouch was trying to find his way to the famous Courtroom Ten where he presided over trials of many Death Eaters, including his own son, after the conclusion of the Wizarding War. Initial reports from medical officials appear to suggest that Mr. Crouch has suffered a major mental breakdown, with stress being quoted as the only reasonable cause.

Adam put down the copy of the Daily Prophet and passed it to Ginny so she could read it. He vaguely remembered Crouch. He had been around school a lot last year for the Triwizard tournament.

"So Tonks was the 'Ministry security'?" Adam asked.

"Yep," said Remus with a smile. "She told me Crouch was a right old mess. Hardly knew who he was, poor man."

Once Ginny had finished with the newspaper, conversation turned to more mundane matters. Adam and Ginny filled Remus and Sirius in on what had happened at school and Sirius and Remus, much to Adam's delight, shared some stories about his parents while they were at school.

"Right guys," Sirius began, once Remus had left the room to use the toilet. "I've asked around, but had no joy in getting anymore information about why James and Lily were attacked. I don't want to tell Remus, though. If Albus finds out I'm helping you guys, I'll get into trouble and I don't want to drag Remus into it. Plus, he trusts Albus. Perhaps too much..."

"But we found something, Sirius!" Adam said excitedly. "My parents were attacked because of a Prophecy. Apparently, a record of all prophecies are stored at the Ministry, but we haven't been able to find out anything else."

"Good work!" Sirius replied, clapping his hands together. "I'm afraid I don't know anything about Prophecies or where they might be kept at the Ministry," Sirius paused. "But Tonks might! I'll ask her!"

"Thanks!" replied Adam, once again feeling like they were making progress. "Will we be able to meet you during term again? So you can fill us in?"

"I'll come up for the next Hogsmeade weekend. I should have been able to find something out by then."

"So," Ginny began with a sly grin, deftly changing the subject as Remus' footsteps echoed down the hallway. "Sirius, what do you reckon about Remus and Tonks?"


	7. Chapter 6

**Adam  
January 14th 1996**

Adam was feeling very nervous. He had been half looking forward to and half dreading today ever since he'd returned to school after the Christmas holidays. Sirius had reminded him how important it was, and that he, for his own safety, should not under any circumstances forget about it.

Today was a year to the day since he and Ginny first got together and Adam wanted to do something special for her. He'd asked Sirius to get a present for him. Which Sirius had, presumably, asked Tonks to purchase.

Adam had also managed to get some flowers for Ginny. He'd seen some of the older students sending flowers to their girlfriends. However, these flowers normally arrived, in a grand gesture, by Owl post at breakfast. Adam didn't want to do that, it didn't feel right. Plus, Dumbledore would probably notice him spending his money and accuse him of attracting attention to himself.

So Adam had written a note to the flower shop asking them to deliver the flowers late yesterday evening. He'd been able to grab the flowers off the owl last night in relative privacy and then taken them up to his room where he'd kept them in water.

Adam was now waiting in the Entrance Hall for Ginny. He had his present and flowers under his arm, wrapped in his cloak so that they couldn't be seen. It made him look like he was pretending to be a tea pot but Adam didn't mind that.

"Hi, Adam!" Ginny said brightly as she approached.

"Hi, Ginny!" Adam replied, giving her a quick kiss. "Follow me!"

Adam led Ginny out into the school grounds. Luckily for his plan, today was a nice day.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked. "And why are you walking funny?"

"I just thought we could go for a walk," Adam said, trying to act nonchalant.

"Oh, okay." Ginny replied, looking slightly puzzled.

They walked around the outside of the castle, eventually reaching a quiet spot that overlooked the lake.

"Adam," Ginny asked in a quiet voice. "Do you know what day it is today?"

"What? It's Sunday," Adam replied, deciding to try to wind Ginny up a bit.

"Oh," Ginny said, her face falling.

Adam suddenly felt a surge of guilt as he saw how upset Ginny looked that he hadn't remembered.

Adam pulled his cloak off the flowers and held them up. When Ginny saw them she squealed excitedly and threw her arms around him.

"You remembered! You remembered!" Ginny squealed.

"Of course!" Adam replied grinning.

"These are lovely!" Ginny exclaimed as she examined the flowers.

"Do you still have the locket I gave you?" Adam asked.

"Of course! I wear it nearly all the time."

"I got a new photo for it, if you want," said Adam and he took out his present and handed it to Ginny.

"It's awesome! Thanks!"

Adam watched as Ginny slipped off the necklace and put the photograph inside. The photo was of Ginny and himself, both in their Quidditch uniforms. Colin had taken it and Adam had asked Sirius to get a copy made for him.

Once Ginny had put her necklace back on they sat down next to each other, leaning against the wall of the castle.

"I.." Adam began hesitantly. "I wanted to get you something special today because...." he paused. "Well I couldn't really give you anything in front of your family."

"Adam!" Ginny exclaimed. "You don't need to buy me expensive things," she paused, suddenly looking a little embarrassed. "Anyway, what I got you isn't anywhere near as nice."

"Oh, it'll be amazing, I'm sure!" Adam replied encouragingly.

Ginny had made him a _wonderful _card.

"Wow, Ginny this is amazing! You must have spent hours on this!" Adam said honestly. All he had done was spend money.

With their presents exchanged, they cuddled up together in the warm morning sun.

"I can't believe it was a year ago that I kissed you for the first time!" Ginny said softly, with a slight giggle.

"I know," Adam replied. "Ginny," he hesitated. "A-Are you happy with, you know... Us?"

"I am," Ginny replied.

"I-I-I just feel that you deserve someone better than me. I've got all this baggage, with all this," Adam gestured uselessly.

"Adam!" Ginny snapped, sitting up suddenly. "You do deserve me! I'm hardly perfect anyway, what with the diary and all."

Adam smiled at Ginny in response, deliberately ignoring her diary comment. "Do you think we'll still be together next year?" Adam asked.

"Don't jinx it!" Ginny exclaimed with a giggle. "But seriously, yes, I hope so. No, I know we will," she snuggled into Adam's side. "It's just so, perfect, you're my best friend and my boyfriend rolled into one. I'm always happy spending time with you, it... it... it just feels so comfortable. Even when we're not doing anything I enjoy spending time with you. You know?"

"Yeah," Adam replied. "I never really want to spend time with anyone else. Not when you're around."

Ginny grinned up at him. "It just feels right to me."

Adam nodded. He agreed completely.

"Enough talking now I think," Ginny replied with smirk on her face.

Adam completely agreed with that, too.

**February 10th 1996**

Adam pushed through the crowds in the Three Broomsticks towards the table where Ginny was sitting. Today was the first Hogsmeade weekend since Christmas, and they were meeting Sirius.

Adam and Ginny had spent the morning walking around the shops and enjoying each other's company. They didn't have anything that they needed to buy, so they'd decided to come into the Three Broomsticks and grab a drink.

"Here we go," he said as he sat down next to her.

They both sipped their butterbeers. They had half an hour to kill before they had to meet Sirius.

The Three Broomsticks was crowded with students, as it usually was on Hogsmeade weekends. Even though he had been earlier in the year, Adam still privately relished that he could come to Hogsmeade and not have to worry about sneaking out, as he had to last year.

When the time came, Adam and Ginny left the pub and walked up to the cave where they had met Sirius before Christmas, carefully ensuring that they were not followed. When they reached the cave, Sirius was already waiting for them.

"Hi, guys!" he greeted them as they entered the cave. "How's things?"

"Good, thanks!" Adam replied, hugging him.

"Did you like the photo?" Sirius asked Ginny with wink.

Ginny blushed. "Yes, thanks."

"So... any news on the Prophecy?" Adam immediately asked, wanting to change the subject.

"I'm doing fine, thanks," Sirius replied with a grin.

"Come on, Sirius, I know you don't do anything other than sit around that house," said Adam cheekily.

"No!" Ginny exclaimed with a giggle. "He's also trying to set up Remus and Tonks!"

"Guys..." Adam continued in exasperation. He wanted to know if Sirius had managed to find anything out about the Prophecy.

"Okay," Sirius began, gesturing for them to sit. "I asked Tonks. She told me all the Prophecy records are stored in the Department of Mysteries."

"Great!" Adam said. "How can we get them?"

"That's the problem," Sirius sighed. "We don't know for certain that the Prophecy is there and, if it is, only certain people can actually take them off the shelves."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked.

"The only people that can take the recording of a prophecy are those that the prophecy is about."

"Oh," Adam said. He felt bitterly disappointed. If the Prophecy was about his parents as he suspected, then he would never be able to view it.

"Yeah, that leaves us at a dead end."

"So where do we go from here?" Ginny asked.

"We keep looking," Adam replied. He needed to know why his parents had been killed. There had to be some reason why his life had been the way it had. "Or try to persuade Dumbledore to tell us."

"Okay," Sirius agreed. "Let's keeping looking. If we haven't found anything else before the summer, we confront Albus. Together."

"Together," Adam said.

"Together," Ginny agreed.

**February 26th 1996**

_He was very short. He moved very close to the ground. He moved through a glittering room and into a room full of shelves. The shelves stretched up into the ceiling until they faded into the darkness. He moved down the room until he reached the row labelled Ninety Seven. He raced down the row, he was near now. So very near. After some indeterminate distance he reared up to bring what was on the shelves into view. Each shelf held a line of dusty glass orbs. Below each orb was a label. Two such labels attracted his attention. They were identical._

_S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D  
Dark Lord  
and (?)Harry Potter _ __

The two globes that sat above the label seemed closer together than the others nearby on the shelves. He got nearer and nearer to the orbs. He was almost close enough to pick them up. He heard a sound behind him. Someone was coming. He had been spotted.

"Adam!"

Adam sat up in bed. He was soaked in sweat.

"You were struggling like crazy in your bed," Colin said, standing over him. "And... And you're bleeding!"

Then the pain hit him. His forehead felt like someone was slowly slicing the skin away with a sharp knife.

"Arghhh," Adam hissed.

"You alright?" Colin asked. He looked slightly panicked

"I'm fine," Adam said replied with gritted teeth. "A bad headache."

"Oh."

Adam jumped out of bed and dashed to the toilets, leaving behind a bemused Colin. Reaching the toilets Adam dived into one of the cubicles and promptly threw up. Once he had finished, he stood up shakily and struggled over to one of the sinks. His forehead was bloody and, once again, the lightning bolt shaped mark was there. Adam wiped the blood off his forehead and, as he wiped, the scar had already begun to fade away.

Once the mark was gone and Adam felt confident he wasn't going to be sick again, he made his way slowly back to his room. His head was still pounding and his forehead prickled. He got back to his room and sat down on his bed.

"Okay, mate?" Colin asked from his bed.

"Yeah, thanks," Adam said with a small smile. "I think I'm just going to try and go back to sleep."

"I reckon you might be coming down with something," Colin continued.

"If I don't feel any better in the morning I'll go and see Madam Pomfrey," Adam replied, as he lay back down on his bed.

Adam didn't manage to get back to sleep that night. He played the dream over and over in his mind, trying to keep the details from fading. Row Ninety Seven. Two Prophecies. My Name. If the Prophecies were in his name then he could take them from the shelf!

When morning came, Adam dragged himself down to the common room and collapsed into one of the chairs to wait for Ginny to emerge. She was a notoriously late sleeper. She finally appeared with only twenty minutes left until the end of breakfast. Adam smiled as he saw her stagger into the common room, her hair was messed up and she seemed half asleep. Adam slowly got to his feet and went over to her.

"Morning," she said, giving him a quick hug. "You look as bad as I feel," she said with a tired grin.

"Yeah," Adam replied. "I had a rubbish night."

They made their way down to breakfast, which they both ate in silence. Adam didn't feel much like talking and, apparently, neither did Ginny.

Today was a Monday so, unfortunately, they had Potions as first lesson. Once they had finished breakfast they wandered in the direction of the dungeons.

"So what's bothering you?" Ginny asked, as they walked down the stairs.

Adam kept silent until they reached the corridor that housed the entrance the Snape's classroom. Once there, they went down the corridor a bit so they would be out of earshot of any students arriving for the lesson.

"The Prophecy is about me!" he exclaimed to Ginny. "Well, there's more than one!"

Ginny stared into space. "So you can retrieve them!"

"Yes!" Adam replied excitedly.

"How can you know that?" Ginny asked, she seemed deep in thought.

"I saw it. There are labels."

"Both of the globes with the prophecy in are labelled with your name?" Ginny queried.

"Yes!" Adam replied excited. "Now all we need to do is figure out a way to get into the Department of Mysteries to get them!"

"You need to write to Sirius," Ginny said. "And we can ask..."

"Moody," Adam finished.

"Yep, we can do it later on," Ginny agreed.

"Ginny," Adam said softly. "You know what it means if the Prophecy was about me..."

Ginny was silent for a second.

"He wasn't after your parents that night.... he was after you," Ginny replied softly.

"Weasley! Winters!" Professor Snape's voice echoed down the corridor. "Are you deaf or just too stupid to understand the simple instruction 'Go in'?"

Adam groaned and he and Ginny walked into the classroom, it wasn't a promising start to the lesson.

Thankfully, Adam managed to escape with only a loss of ten points for Gryffindor. Snape had taken the points because his potion was slightly off colour. However, Adam noticed that he hadn't taken points from Harper, a Slytherin, even though his potion had started spiting globules of mixture all over the desk. Adam had long since stopped being bothered by Snape's favouritism of Slytherins.

Adam's spirits brightened slightly once Potions had finished. They had Defence next!

"You going to mention the dream to Moody?" Ginny asked, as they climbed up the stairs out of the dungeons.

"Yeah, I'll stay after class."

By the time they arrived at Professor Moody's classroom the door was already open, and they filed in and sat at their usual desk.

Professor Moody's lesson was just as good as ever. They covered basic counter curses. Adam and Ginny took turns in placing each other in the Leg Locker Curse and then they each practiced dispelling them. Once the lesson was finished, the students piled out of the room, but Adam lingered behind, determined to tell Professor Moody what he'd seen in his dream.

"Got some news for me?" Professor Moody asked bluntly once the rest of the class had left.

"I know where the Prophecy is and I can get it," Adam told him. "The Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. I even know what shelf it's on."

Professor Moody stood up from where he was sitting and walked over towards Adam. He clapped him on the back.

"Good work, lad!"

"Now all we need to do is figure out how to get there," Adam said. "I was wondering..."

"Of course!" Professor Moody replied. He walked back over to his desk, sat down and took a swig from his flask.

"The Department of Mysteries is on Level 9 of the Ministry of Magic. Once you come out of the lift, straight ahead and through the door."

Adam nodded. "But how do we get into the Ministry."

"The best way to get in is by Floo. If you go in the evening you will find it lightly guarded."

"Really?" Adam asked. He was surprised that the Ministry itself would be lightly guarded.

Moody smirked at him. "I can arrange it for you."

"Great!" Adam exclaimed. He could do it, he could really go and get the prophecy.

"You tell me the date you intend to go. I'll make sure I am out of my office, but my door will be unlocked and the Floo left open."

"Brilliant!" Adam grinned. "Thank you so much!"

"Enough of that, boy," replied Professor Moody gruffly. "Off you go and let me know when you want me to make..." he paused. "... arrangements for you."

**March 16th 1996**

Adam and Ginny were cuddled together under the Invisibility Cloak as they sneaked out of the school.

Ginny was still wearing her Quidditch robes from the game earlier in the day. The Hufflepuff team had been a complete push over. The only question had been how many points Gryffindor would score before they caught the Snitch. Adam was pretty sure Angelina had even instructed Ginny not to catch the Snitch early, so Gryffindor could get as many points as possible. Ginny had eventually caught the Snitch resulting in a 630 to 40 point victory for Gryffindor.

While Ginny had been playing, Adam had received a letter attached to an owl. It was from Sirius. He was in Hogsmeade and wanted to meet with them that night.

Once they had left the school, Adam and Ginny quickly padded across the grounds until they reached the meeting place, the Whomping Willow.

"How do we get under the branches?" Adam asked in a whisper. "I don't fancy doing it like we did it last time."

However, there didn't seem be any other options, so they edged gingerly closer to the willow but, much to their surprise, the branches did not move.

"Sirius," Adam and Ginny said simultaneously.

Relieved that they wouldn't have to risk being hit by the tree's flailing branches, they crept forward and entered the tunnel beneath the tree. Sirius was sitting waiting for them in his dog form. Once Adam whipped off the cloak, Sirius transformed back.

"James' Cloak?" Sirius exclaimed excitedly.

"Yep," Adam replied, grinning as he hugged his godfather.

"Wicked! Now, as you Godfather," Sirius winked, "I must instruct you not to get into _too_ much mischief."

Ginny giggled. "Don't worry, we don't and how did you get the branches to stop moving?" She asked.

Sirius laughed and pointed to a knot in the tree branch just outside the tunnel entrance. "You press here and it stops moving."

"But," Ginny asked, "how did you know we were coming?"

"Padfoot has a rather good nose," Sirius replied haughtily, causing Ginny to giggle and Adam to roll his eyes.

Once the moving branches were once against guarding the entrance, the three of them navigated the tunnel back into the shack itself.

"Here we are again," Ginny mused, as they reached the room where the confrontation between Sirius and Adam had taken place last year.

Ginny sat down on the battered bed and he sat next to her.

"You wrote saying you had something important to tell me?" Sirius asked.

"We know how to get the Prophecy," Adam stated bluntly.

"How?" Sirius asked.

"Moody is going to help. He will be able to get us into the Ministry. And we know where the Prophecy is once we're inside," Ginny replied.

"But how can you get the Prophecy?" Sirius asked.

"It's in my name."

"What?"

"The Prophecy is about me."

"How can you possibly know that?" Sirius replied, looking confused.

"I... I just know," Adam replied hesitantly.

"That's not good enough, Adam!" Sirius replied hotly.

"We've... I mean, Adam has had a vision. He's seen the Prophecies," Ginny added.

"Prophecies?"

"There's two!"

"Oh," Sirius replied, sitting down heavily on a nearby chair.

"Sirius! We can go and Adam can take them off the shelves!" Ginny said emphatically.

"I..." Sirius hesitated. "Guys, I don't like this. All this talk about visions. We're relying on this dream you've had!"

"Sirius. Please!" Adam pleaded. "I need to do this!"

Sirius looked extremely apprehensive and Adam felt his excitement fading, Sirius wasn't going to let them do it.

"Sirius!" Ginny said, standing up. "We're going to do this! With or without you! Don't you want to know yourself?"

Sirius stood up and began to place the room. Adam waited anxiously. They hadn't actually discussed doing it without Sirius, but he supposed it was possible.

"Okay," he said tiredly. "Let's set a date. I'll come with you, Adam."

"I'm coming, too," Ginny interrupted.

"Ginny...." Adam began softly.

"Don't you dare!" Ginny exploded, jabbing her finger into Adam's chest.

Adam blanched.

"I'll leave you two to settle that issue," Sirius said with a dry laugh. "So when are we going to do this?"

"Soon," Adam answered.

"No. I'll need time. I'm checking everything out myself first before you guys go. I'm not putting you in danger," Sirius stated.

"Sirius..." Adam began to protest.

"No. This is non-negotiable," Sirius said in a harsh tone. "How about the end of May?" Sirius suggested. "That'll give me plenty of time."

"Qudditch," Ginny sighed.

"June?"

"Exams."

"Okay, so when do your exams finish?" Sirius said, sounding exasperated now.

Adam counted on his fingers. "Last exam is the 14th June," he told Sirius.

"How about the 15th then?" Sirius suggested. "Most people will be celebrating the end of the exams," he rolled his eyes. "And no one will notice the two of you sneaking off."

"Okay," Adam said. "I'll let Moody know. He said we can use his Floo."

"Okay. On the fifteenth meet me here after dinner. We can sneak in with your cloak. And do not write to me. The owl that reached me with your last letter was injured. I think someone had tried to bring it down."

"Thanks," Adam said, trying to keep the excitement from his voice.

"I just hope I don't regret this," Sirius said, still looking agitated. "Now, I need to go. Albus doesn't know I've left Grimmauld Place."

After a very strained goodbye, Sirius rapidly left the building, leaving Adam and Ginny alone.

"Let's get back to Hogwarts," Ginny said, looking around uneasily. "This place gives me the creeps."

By the time Adam and Ginny reached the school, it was well past curfew. Even though they had the Invisibility Cloak, Adam didn't want to chance bumping into any teachers or patrolling prefects. The cloak made them invisible, but it didn't hide any noises they made, or stop Mrs Norris, Filch's cat, from smelling them.

Once they slipped in through the doors and into he Entrance Hall. Adam and Ginny huddled in the shadows and pulled out the Marauders map.

"Oh, no," Adam exclaimed in a slightly panicked whisper.

"What?" Ginny asked, peering over to look at the map.

"Dumbledore's coming down the stairs," Adam's finger traced the staircase on the map. "And Snape is coming up the path behind us. With _Igor Karkaroff_, whoever he is."

"He's the headmaster from Durmstrang," Ginny said in a surprised voice. "He was here last year."

"Never mind that!" Adam whispered furiously. "We need to hide."

Adam and Ginny ran forward, still hidden under the cloak, towards the staircase but it was too late. Hearing the echo of Professor Dumbledore's footsteps, they dashed towards the only place they could think to hide, the small chamber that the first years stood in while waiting to be sorted. From here they could see into the Hall if necessary but still stay out of the way. The last thing they needed was for Dumbledore to spot them.

Adam and Ginny kept their eyes glued to the Map. They watched the dots that represented Professor Dumbledore, Snape and Karkaroff eventually meet in the middle of the Entrance Hall.

"Igor," Professor Dumbledore's voice echoed softly through the deserted room. "I did not expect you at such a late hour."

"Albus, I had to come, I have to know," said an accented voice that Adam did not recognise. Presumably this was Igor. "What does it mean?"

"Your Mark...." Professor Dumbledore began.

"It is the same as mine," Snape interrupted.

"It means," Professor Dumbledore paused. "That he is back and regaining his strength."

"Then I must flee," said Igor, in a much higher pitched tone. "He will come after me. You lied to me Dumbledore! If I thought he would return I-I-I never would have..."

"Igor," said Professor Dumbledore. "That it is not yet black, means we still have time."

"I need to go," Igor said, his voice trembling.

"Igor, please! Let me help you," Dumbledore said softly.

"No," replied Igor, he sounded terrified now. "I trusted you once, but not again."

"Then go, Igor," said Professor Dumbledore, Adam recognised the tired tone of his voice.

There was a bustle and tap of footsteps on the stone floor and then silence.

"Fool," Snape spat, breaking the silence.

"Let me see your Mark, Severus."

There was a rustle of cloth.

"My Mark hasn't been this dark since...." Snape began.

"Since he came so close to retrieving the stone, four years ago," Professor Dumbledore finished.

There was silence in the Hall.

"I was right," Snape began. "Now, finally, you admit it?"

"Would that I had the wisdom to see beyond my pre-conceptions. I assumed it was merely an overly ambitious Professor. He showed no sign. He was careful to hide his true nature even after Quirrell died."

"The boy..." Severus began.

"That he is alive has changed everything," Professor Dumbledore remarked. "Come, Severus, this conversation is something best reserved for my office."

Adam watched intently as Professor Dumbledore's and Snape's dots on the map moved up the stairs.

Adam and Ginny both stood crouched under the cloak until the dots representing both Professors reached the Headmaster's Office.

"What the hell was that about?" Adam whispered to Ginny as they emerged from their hiding place and rapidly climbed the stairs to Gryffindor tower.

"I don't know. But it seems to have even Professor Dumbledore worried," Ginny replied.


	8. Chapter 7

**Adam  
May 24th 1996**

Adam had been working very hard at his schoolwork over the past few weeks. With his and Ginny's fixation on finding out more about the Prophecy, their school marks had suffered and Professor McGonagall had noticed. She had called Adam into her office and told him in no uncertain terms that she expected more of him. So Adam had redoubled his efforts. Fortunately, with a date set for the next step of their Prophecy quest, Adam now had less to distract him.

His attention was now divided firmly between Quidditch, his school work and, of course, Ginny.

Today was the Gryffindor team's final Quidditch practice before their final game of the season tomorrow.

"Listen up!" Angelina shouted to the assembled team. "Slytherin are 320 points in front of us and have already played their final game. So we need to score 330 tomorrow to win the cup! But more than that, we have our pride! So we WILL beat Ravenclaw tomorrow!"

The team cheered in response and, eagerly mounting their brooms, they shot off into the sky in a host of different directions. Once they were all airborne, they formed up and soared across the stands.

As they flew, a chorus of boos erupted from the ground below them.

"The Slytherins are trying to put us off!" Angelina shouted to the team. "Just ignore them and let's get on with it."

"Look at what the Weasleys are riding!" Draco Malfoy called out. "And what's that wreck that Winters is flying. You can tell he has no money!"

"Adam, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George," Angelina shouted. "Ignore him!"

Adam found, that after a few minutes, he was able to successfully tune out Malfoy's taunting and he, along with the rest of the team, began circling the pitch to warm up.

"Everyone! Practice passing. Even those in non-Quaffle positions," Angelina ordered.

The entire team passed the Quaffle back and forwards, as they moved in a line up and down the length of the pitch. At every pass the Slytherins booed and hissed.

Unfortunately, Ron was the first one to drop the Quaffle and so, with his face flaming from embarrassment, he had to descend to the ground to retrieve it. The Slytherins booed and jeered enthusiastically at him.

When the Quaffle was next passed to Ron, the Slytherins once again made noise, this time it was raucous laughter. Ron turned to glare at them, but in the process completely missed the Quaffle, and it went sailing past him, nearly hitting him in the head.

"Concentrate, Ron!" Angelina called. "Don't get distracted!"

The next time the Quaffle came to Ron, the Slytherins managed to time their mockery so it coincided with him catching it. Adam could see, that by this point, Ron was becoming incredibly agitated. So he hurled the Quaffle to Katie in anger. It flew straight through her outstretched arms and hit her square on the nose.

"Sorry!" Ron exclaimed, putting his head in his hands.

Adam's shoulders slumped in disappointment, as he watched Katie, Angelina, Fred and George rapidly descend to the ground. Adam could see, even from this distance, that Katie's nose was bleeding. He saw Fred give her something, which she ate. _Maybe Fred has a potion to stop the bleeding,_ Adam thought_.  
_  
While they waited for Fred and Angelina to solve the crisis, Ginny pulled up on her broom alongside him.

"Alright," Adam said, glancing over at her.

"Yeah," Ginny sighed in exasperation. "Trust my brother to let the Slytherins get to him."

With the nose bleed finally stemmed, the training session resumed with drills for the various positions. Adam hung back, allowing Ginny to get the majority of practice time with the Snitch. She was the one who would actually be playing in the game tomorrow.

As the practice session continued, Adam soon noticed that Katie seemed to be flagging. She had gone very pale and the front of her robes were now becoming bloody. Angelina, also noticing this, rapidly brought the team down to the ground.

When they reached the ground, Katie stumbled to the floor as she dismounted her broom.

"She needs the hospital wing," said Angelina, rushing to her side

"We'll take her," said Fred with a guilty expression on his face. "I think, er, she might have swallowed a Blood Blisterpod by mistake."

"We may as well call it then!" Angelina called to the assembled team in an exasperated tone. She paused for a second before raising her voice. "I know tonight's practice has been poor. But I know we can win tomorrow!"

"GO GRYFFINDOR!" the remainder of the team shouted half-heartedly.

With the practice finished, Adam and Ginny returned to Gryffindor tower with Ron, both of them offering encouragement to him as they walked.

Once they reached the common room, Adam, Ginny and Ron joined Hermione and Neville on one of the sofas and began describing the Quidditch practice to them.

They were disturbed from their conversation when Angelina burst through the portrait hole. She was still dressed in her Quidditch uniform and looked extremely flustered.

"Madam Pomfrey is keeping Katie in overnight. She won't allow her to play tomorrow," Angelina blurted to the group.

"Oh no," Ron groaned.

"So, Ginny, you're Chasing tomorrow and Adam you're Seeking," she stood there silently for a few seconds before continuing in a harried tone. "I need to go and rethink the strategy."

"This is all my fault!" Ron exclaimed, once Angelina had left. "If I hadn't hit her with the Quaffle, none of this would have happened!"

"Ron! Accidents happen!" Adam exclaimed in response. He took a breath. "Look mate, calm down. These things happen. We're still going to win tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Ron said hesitantly.

"We've lost Katie, but Ginny's a damn good Chaser and well, I'm...." he trailed off.

"...an average Seeker," Ginny continued smoothly.

Adam turned to glare at Ginny. "Not helping," he said softly.

"Not trying to help," Ginny replied smugly.

Adam turned back to Ron, only to find him about to burst out in laughter.

He laughed heartily and eventually collapsed back on onto the seat next to Adam. "You two really are a pair of nutters," he said between laughs.

**May 25th 1996**

The next day, the weather was bright and the sun was shining. It was a perfect day for Quidditch. Adam, however, was once again feeling incredibly nervous. He hadn't played a game this year and was afraid he would perform poorly.

He had been given strict instructions by Angelina not to catch the Snitch until they had scored at least 180 points. All that Gryffindor needed to do today was score 330 points, but Adam wanted to make sure Gryffindor won.

The match commenced and Adam began circling the stadium searching for the Snitch. He tried to tune out the game carrying on below him, but he couldn't miss that Gryffindor had scored several times.

He needed to focus, but there was no sign of the Snitch. It was being very elusive today.

Adam soared over the goalposts that Ron was defending. Currently, Gryffindor were 100-40 ahead. Things were looking good. Ginny had scored twice and Ron was performing reasonably well, having blocked many of Ravenclaw's shots on goal.

A roar from the stands signified another Gryffindor goal, this time by Angelina. Gryffindor were easily dominating the game. All Adam needed to do was wait and then catch the Snitch once Gryffindor had enough points.

The game continued and eventually Gryffindor reached 180 points. Adam breathed a sigh of relief: he could now catch the Snitch!

However, nearly two hours later, Adam still had not had a clear chance at the Snitch, but neither had the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang. It had appeared several times, and he and Cho had charged across the field after it. However, each time the Snitch had moved and neither of the two Seekers were able to keep track of it.

Suddenly, during one of Adam's routine visual scans of the pitch, he saw it. It was floating directly below him, only metres from the ground.

Adam threw all his body weight into a downward dive towards the ground. He weaved his way between the other players, he saw a Chaser zoom past him, a Chaser that had bright red hair. That must be Ginny!

As he dived, Adam saw that Cho Chang was now also heading towards the Snitch. She was slightly closer, but to his relief either Fred or George had sent a Bludger her way, buying him a few precious seconds.

Adam stretched out his hand towards the Snitch, his fingers were mere inches from it. Just as he was about to capture it, the little ball moved! It was now flying along parallel to the ground at considerable speed. Adam gave chase, but his broom simply wasn't fast enough to close the distance. It was as if the Snitch was deliberately taunting him, flying ahead of him tantalisingly close, but just out of reach.

Adam spared a split second for a quick glance behind him. Cho Chang was closing on him, her Nimbus far faster than Ginny's Cleansweep, which Adam was flying today. He realised with horror that she had the speed to overtake him and catch the Snitch. _If Cho caught the Snitch then Slytherin would win the cup!_

He now had no options. He reached forward as far as he could, but the Snitch was still just out of reach. So, without thinking, he moved his body weight forward, stretching himself as much as he could. He felt his fingers brush the Snitch. _He was so close!_

Adam released his one handed grip on the broom and leaned forward those last few inches. _Yes!_ He felt his fingers close around the Snitch. _He'd caught it!_

Adam's split second triumph was cut short, when he realised he was now hopelessly overbalanced. The broom began to flip over and, before he could fully realise his peril, Adam hit the floor at considerable speed. He felt a shooting pain in both of his arms and blacked out.

"Stay still, Adam!" he heard Ginny's voice calling, as he came back to consciousness.

"I got it!" he replied in a croaky voice.

"Yes, you got it, you lunatic," Ginny snapped. "And nearly killed yourself in the process. Now stay still."

Ginny was kneeling at his side and Adam saw the rest of the Gryffindor team plus Madam Hooch gathered around him.

"Madam Pomfrey is on her way," Madam Hooch said with authority. "Keep him still."

"Oh, Adam!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, when she reached Adam's side. "What happened?"

"I caught the Snitch," Adam said proudly.

"Got his priorities right, this one," Fred said jokingly.

"Shut up!" Ginny exclaimed at her brother. "He's hurt!"

Madam Pomfrey knelt down next to Ginny and began examining Adam.

"Will he be okay?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"Of course, Miss Weasley, he's broken both his arms. But that's nothing I can't fix."

Ginny seemed to visibly sag in relief.

Madam Pomfrey did a series of spells on him and Adam felt his entire upper body go completely numb.

"This is just to prevent you from causing yourself any more damage. I'll take them off when we get to the Hospital Wing," Madam Pomfrey informed him.

Adam felt terrible. He wasn't in pain but it was the worst feeling in the world not being in control of his body. He couldn't even talk! He felt incredibly uncomfortable as Madam Pomfrey levitated him back towards the school. Ginny walked with him the whole way, muttering about his recklessness.

"Would you rather me let them win!?" Adam snapped, once Madam Pomfrey had placed him on a bed in the Hospital Wing and released the spell that had immobilised him.

"Yes!" Ginny snapped back. "You can be a massive prat at times! Your health is far more important than a _game_!"

She paced back and forward across the Hospital Wing making a frustrated growling noise. Adam feared he had really upset her.

"Ginny…" Adam said in a quiet voice.

"Yes, Adam," Ginny replied tiredly.

"We did win the cup didn't we?" Adam asked meekly.

"Oh, Adam," Ginny said, coming back to his bedside. "Of course we did, you caught the snitch at just the right time. We won it by two hundred points."

Ginny sat down in the chair next to his bed and stayed there until Madam Pomfrey forced her to leave just before curfew.

**June 15th 1996**

Tonight was the night. He was finally going to know the truth.

Adam had diligently worked through all his essays and completed all his exams. He was confident he had done reasonably well, although he was doubtful about Potions and History of Magic.

Throughout all of his exams, the thought that he was soon going to find out the reason behind what had happened to his parents was never far from his mind. Soon he would know what Dumbledore was keeping from him.

So it was with great excitement, and a little bit of fear, that Adam and Ginny sneaked out of the school, met with Sirius and then smuggled him back in. All done using the Invisibility cloak.

They managed to reach Professor Moody's door without incident. If the Professor had kept his word then the door would be open and the Floo ready for them.

Adam slowly pushed on the door, it swung open. The three of them entered the room and closed the door behind them.

"Okay listen," Sirius said. "Here's a few rules, before I allow you two to go. I want you both to promise to obey me in whatever I say. If something goes wrong, I'm going to tell you to run. If I do, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide. The worst thing would be if you were caught with me. They may think you were helping me. If that happens you are to pretend I've kidnapped you. Understand?"

"Yep," Adam responded.

"I want both of you to promise that you will listen to me."

"I promise," Ginny said after a moment.

"Me, too," Adam said.

Now satisfied, Sirius led them through the Floo. They emerged into the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. Once clear of the fireplace, Adam looked around the hall. The ceiling was blue and the floor was wooden. Up ahead of him, further down the Atrium, he could see a large fountain and a large shiny black block. Adam realised this was the monument Ginny had told him about.

The three of them jogged down the Atrium. When they reached the monument Adam paused. He stared up at it, a sense of morbid curiosity demanding that he find his own name among the list of the dead.

"Come on, there's no time to waste," Sirius whispered.

They continued running to the far end of the atrium until, reaching an open set of golden gates, they paused.

"There's no security," Sirius said.

"Moody," Adam replied softly.

Sirius nodded in response and they passed the abandoned security desk. They soon reached the lifts and descended to level nine. Eventually, they reached the Department of Mysteries, where, hopefully, the Prophecy would be.

The foyer to the Department was large and circular. It was also completely black. When Sirius quietly closed the door behind them, the room grew even darker. The only light was now coming from blue torches that were mounted on the walls.

This was as far as Professor Moody's directions had taken them. Adam had hoped the room with the shelves would be easy to find but that hope soon began to fade when he saw the foyer had many doors leading from it.

"Any idea which door," Sirius murmured.

"None," Adam answered quietly.

Suddenly the room seemed to begin spinning. The candles moved sideways across the wall, leaving streaks through Adam's vision. The movement only lasted a few seconds and then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

"Where now then?" Sirius asked, apparently deciding to ignore the fact that the room had just started spinning.

"Let's try some doors," Adam suggested.

Sirius shrugged and strode towards the door directly in front of him. It swung open when he pushed it.

The door opened into a large room, the centre of the room was sunken and there was a strange arch standing on a raised platform in the centre.

"This almost looks like a stadium," Ginny commented.

Adam was staring at the archway. In the centre of the arch, even though it didn't seem to be supported by anything, was a black curtain. It seemed to be fluttering, even though Adam could not feel any wind.

"Who's there?" said Adam. He was tempted to go down and have a look at that curtain.

"Is this the room?" Sirius asked suddenly.

Adam shook his head. "But we should check it out," he continued.

"No, I don't like this place. Let's get out of here and try another door."

"Sirius..." Adam began.

"No, lets go," Sirius ordered, grabbing Adam and dragging both him and Ginny out of the room.

As soon as they were back in the circular room, the door to the archway room closed itself and the room once again spun, making Adam feel disorientated.

Sirius once again strode forward and opened the door immediately in front of him.

Adam peered in through the doorway. This room was full of lamps hanging from golden chains. The room was long and rectangular. It was empty, apart from a few desks and an enormous glass tank of water. A number of white objects were drifting around in the tank.

"What are they?" Ginny asked.

"Brains," Sirius replied. "Did you see any brains in your dream?"

Adam shook his head. So Sirius rapidly hustled them out of the room and closed the door. Once again the room spun.

Sirius strode forward once again. Opened the door, peered inside and then closed the door again.

"What?" Adam asked as the room began to spin for the fourth time.

"Arch room again," Sirius replied, with a worried expression on his face. "If we don't find it soon, we need to go. We've no idea how long we have until they realise we're here."

Sirius tried to open the door immediately in front of him again. He pushed and pulled on it several times.

"Locked," he said, withdrawing his wand, pointing it at the door, and then trying again.

"I don't think we're going to be getting in there," he commented and moved to the door next to it, which did open for him.

Adam knew as soon as he saw inside the room that this was it. The beautiful dancing light was the same he had seen in his dream.

"This is it!" he exclaimed happily.

Suddenly, Adam felt a sharp pain in his forehead. He hissed in pain and put his head in his hands.

"What is it?" Ginny squeaked, rubbing her hands together and looking concerned.

"N-N-Nothing," Adam said, trying to collect himself. "Just my head hurt for a second."

Adam noticed Sirius looking at him worriedly. He needed to pull himself together or Sirius would call off the expedition.

"Let's go!" Adam said, trying to sound like he was in charge.

They entered the room and Adam's eyes soon became adjusted to the glare of the lights in the room. The room was filled with clocks of every kind. Large and small, Adam couldn't even begin to name them all. The sound of ticking echoed and filled the room with an unnatural sound.

Adam led the way down the room. "The Prophecies are in the next room!" He said excitedly.

They ran the length of the room, weaving between the lines of desks. As the ran, Adam noticed that they seemed to be getting closer to a light source.

"Look!" Ginny exclaimed as they drew nearer. She pointed to a crystal bell jar, standing alone on a desk. It appeared to be filled with a billowing, glittering wind.

Adam watched as Ginny overtook him and stared into the jar.

"Come on!" Sirius said crossly. "We didn't come here for bell jars!"

Adam and Sirius ran past Ginny, who reluctantly dragged herself away from the bell jar to follow them towards the door.

Adam, reaching the door first, paused. This was it, through this door was what Adam hoped would be the Prophecy room.

Sirius came up behind him, opened the door and directed the group into the room. It was just as Adam remembered from his dream. High shelves arranged in isles, with the shelves piled high with dusty orbs.

"Row Ninety Seven!" Adam exclaimed, charging forward. He was very glad now that Ginny had been adamant that he record the exact details of his dream.

The room was lit by blue torches similar to the circular room, so they were able to relatively quickly determine which way they had to go. Deciding that the row they needed was to the right Adam, Ginny and Sirius pounded down the long alley of shelves.

"Here!" Sirius exclaimed, staring up a sign for row ninety seven.

"Spread out and look for my name," Adam ordered and the three of them spread out to search for his Prophecy.

"Adam...it's here," Ginny exclaimed in an awed voice a few minutes later.

Adam and Sirius gathered around where she was standing. Adam looked up and saw two globes labelled exactly the same.

_S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D  
Dark Lord  
and (?)Harry Potter_

Adam noticed both globes looked identical, except that the label on one seemed considerably newer.

"This is it," Sirius said.

Adam reached out, and raised his hand towards the nearest prophecy, the older one. He hesitated, afraid that something would happen when he picked it up. Eventually, steeling his courage Adam reached out and grabbed it from the shelf.

As soon as Adam touched it he flinched, but nothing happened. He took the Prophecy down and held it in his hands in awe.

"H-How do we view it?" Adam asked.

"I'll show you, but once we get back," Sirius said. "Now quickly get the other one."

Adam passed the prophecy in his hands to Ginny and grinning slightly he reached up and grabbed the second one.

Adam felt a tugging sensation and then he was pulled away.


	9. Chapter 8

AN: Here is the final chapter of Identity. This point marks the end of Book IV, but also roughly the half way point in the series in terms of word count. Once you've read this, know that Book V picks up pretty much immediatly after the end of this one and I hope that I will have the prologue up within a day or two.

* * *

**Tonks  
June 15th 1996**

Tonks was engaged in one of her secret pleasures, eating a Muggle pizza. She just loved settling down on one of the few evenings that she had to herself and gorging. Tonks wasn't quite sure what appealed to her so much about pizza, but she suspected it was a combination of the taste, the large amount of cheese, and the fact that very few witches or wizards ate it.

Tonight, much to her irritation, she only managed to eat her third slice before the Floo activated.

"Nymphadora!"

Tonks recognised the voice easily, it was Albus Dumbledore.

"What can I do for you, Headmaster?" She asked, getting up from the sofa and walking over to the fireplace.

"Tonks! Do you know where Sirius is?" Albus asked, looking more harried than she had ever seen him.

"No idea. Is he not at Grimmauld Place?" Tonks replied, feeling slightly puzzled by Albus' question.

"No," Albus answered rapidly. "Meet me at the Ministry of Magic immediately. I fear he has done something incredibly stupid!"

"Right now?" Tonks asked. She didn't want to leave her pizza.

"Yes! Right now. Please, Tonks!" Albus replied and then severed the connection.

Tonks quickly collected her work things and took the Floo to the Ministry of Magic Atrium. When she arrived she ran forward towards the security desk. Surprisingly, there was no one at the desk. It was supposed to be staffed around the clock.

As she walked past the deserted security desk, she spotted Albus pacing by the lifts.

"Thank you for coming, Nymphadora," Albus said and he rapidly ushered Tonks into the lift.

Tonks watched as he ordered the lift to the Ninth level. _Department of Mysteries or the court room_, she mused silently.

"What's going on, Albus?" Tonks asked as the lift descended.

"Someone has entered the Hall of Prophecy," Albus stated. "I believe they are after the Prophecy about Harry Potter."

Tonks paused. Albus obviously thought Sirius was at the bottom of this and, with a start, Tonks suddenly realised that this was why he'd been asking about Prophecies!

"But what would Sirius achieve by coming here? He can't remove the Prophecy. The only people that could remove it are dead."

"Harry Potter is alive," Albus said bluntly as the lift doors opened, "and I believe he is with Sirius. Now follow me!"

Tonks' mind was spinning. _Harry Potter, alive?!_ He'd died years ago when Voldemort fell. How could he possibly be alive after all this time?

"How?" Tonks questioned, as she charged after him down the corridor.

"Nymphadora, there will be time for questions later. For now, please, just do as I say," Albus replied.

Tonks didn't dare argue with the Headmaster right now, so she followed him as he charged through the door into the Department of Mysteries.

When they reached the circular entrance foyer to the department, Albus loudly announced. "Time."

The room spun, until there was a door directly in front of them. Albus dashed forward and the door promptly flew open. Tonks had to sprint to follow the surprisingly quick old wizard.

Once they entered the room, Tonks saw that it was full of clocks. She vaguely remembered that she had heard of a room in the Department of Mysteries that was filled with clocks. _Well, _she thought_. This must be it_.

As they approached the end of the long room, they could see light flashing through an open doorway. Tonks held out her hand and gestured for Albus to stop. She then cautiously approached the door, flattened herself against the doorway and slowly peered through. She wanted to see what was going on before they stepped inside.

What she saw was confusing. Alastor Moody was duelling with Sirius in amongst rows of shelves, all of which contained small glass orbs. Meanwhile, there seemed to be a second person, hidden from sight, firing stunners at Moody from behind one of the shelves. Tonks tried vainly to see who the second person was, but they were too well hidden and she couldn't get a clear look at them.

"Alastor and Sirius are fighting," Tonks told Albus in a low whisper.

Albus seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then, without warning, he stepped past Tonks and out into the room.

Swearing to herself, Tonks quickly followed.

"Alastor, Sirius. Put down your wands!" Albus roared, his voice echoing throughout the room.

Tonks watched as Sirius hesitated and slightly lowered his wand but Alastor, unbelievably, didn't lower his. He shot a Stunning Spell towards Sirius, which caught him woefully unprepared. It hit Sirius directly in the chest and sent him flying into a nearby shelf.

"Alastor! Lower your wand! Now!" Albus called to the man, his voice echoing with authority.

In a single smooth movement, Alastor spun around to face Albus, firing off a spell as he turned. Albus, somehow sensing the threat, retaliated and, with a single wand movement, he conjured a shield and sent a Stunner back towards Alastor.

Then the spells started to fly and Tonks leapt into action. She fired off two Disarming Spells at Moody, both of which were deflected. Tonks didn't know what was wrong with Moody, but she needed to stop him. He must be unwell or perhaps maybe under the Imperius curse. The Alastor Moody she knew would never knowingly attack Albus Dumbledore.

As the battle continued, Moody was barely able to fend off Tonks' spells, while keeping pace with Albus' rapid spell casting. As Tonks fired several more spells towards her old teacher, she smiled grimly. His only advantage now was that she and Albus were trying to avoid injuring him or damaging the surrounding Prophecies.

"Surrender, Moody!" Tonks cried, as Moody grew more and more desperate. "I don't know what's going on, but you can't beat both of us!"

Moody never got chance to reply, a Stunner hit him from behind, sending him crumpling to the floor.

Tonks stared in open-mouthed amazement; she had completely forgotten about the combatant who was hiding behind the shelves. Apparently in Alastor's haste to attack Dumbledore, he had also forgotten about him.

Tonks cautiously approached the unconscious form of Alastor, glass from broken globes crunching under her feet as she walked. Reaching him, she stared down at his unconscious form.

"Albus, what was this all about?" She asked, turning to the Professor.

"I don't know. I've never known Alastor to behave like this. Even at his most paranoid," he responded, and then fell silent.

Tonks started searching Moody, hoping that she would find some indication of what was wrong with him but, as she was searching his pockets, she heard a sharp intake of breath from Albus. She turned to stare to at him and then back at Moody.

What she saw shocked her to the very core. Moody's face was changing right before her eyes. It almost seemed to be melting as his features changed, re-arranging and shifting themselves into the face of a completely different person. Another person that wasn't as dead as everyone seemed to think.

Tonks looked back up at Albus, finding an equally shocked expression on his face and, for the first time in her experience, it seemed that Albus Dumbledore didn't know what to do.

**Ginny  
June 15th 1995**

Ginny stared blankly at the spot where Adam had been standing only a few seconds before. _What had happened?_ _Where had he gone?_

"Sirius," she said in a small voice, fighting the panic that was beginning to build up inside her.

She turned to face him. Sirius was also staring blankly at the spot.

"I-I don't know," he stammered and, much to Ginny's horror, he was looking scared.

"Where is he?" Ginny pleaded with Sirius.

"That was a Portkey," Sirius said with a distraught expression on his face. "There should be no way...."

"H-How do we get him back?" Ginny questioned. She was really scared now. _What had happened to Adam?_

"You don't," a voice from behind them announced.

Ginny spun around and, transferring the Prophecy she was holding into her left hand, she grabbed her wand from her pocket.

"What?!" She demanded of the newcomer, her previous panic turning into anger.

"He's gone," the voice said. It was closer now.

"Moody!" Sirius shouted suddenly. "What have you done with him?"

"He's with us now," he gloated and Ginny felt his eyes on her, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. "All I need to do now is tie up a few loose ends. Pass me the Prophecy, girl."

"You tricked us!" Ginny screamed at him.

"_Stupefy_!" she roared, sending a bolt of red light towards Moody. He raised his wand and easily deflected her Stunner.

In the same movement, Moody began throwing curses towards her and Sirius. Before she could even raise a shield, Ginny suddenly found herself flying through the air. She landed with a soft thud between two of the shelves. Sirius had pushed her out of the way!

"Stay out of sight!" Sirius shouted at her, as he hurriedly deflected Moody's onslaught. "Keep the Prophecy safe!"

_To hell with that,_ Ginny thought. She had to come up with a plan to help Sirius.

While she tried to think of a plan, Ginny crept as close to the edge of the shelves as possible and from time to time fired Stunners at Moody. She didn't want to get in Sirius' way, but it gave Moody something else to think about.

"_Stupefy_!"

"_Stupefy_!"

Once she had fired the first couple of spells, Moody located her and starting firing spells in her direction. A wave of energy washed over her causing her to fall, and slide backwards several feet across the floor.

Clambering back to her feet, Ginny saw the shattered remains of several globes in front of her and felt blood trickle down her face where several splinters of glass had cut her.  
_  
Moody's firing spells at me! I nee_d_ to move to another row!_

Finally having a plan, Ginny sprinted down the length of the shelves. If she could find an aisle she could move closer to Moody and hopefully sneak up to him.

Ginny skidded to a halt as she reached an aisle. From here she could only vaguely hear the sound of spellfire echoing through the room. She turned and dashed up several rows before pelting back towards the battle.

"Alastor, Sirius. Put down your wands!" The commanding voice echoing through the room stopped her in her tracks.

Shaking herself, Ginny sped up, quickly sprinting back towards the fight. With a bit of luck she should be able to sneak up on Moody, she would be two rows closer to him and he wouldn't expect her to attack from there.

"Alastor! Lower your wand!" the voice called again but this time it was louder.

By the time Ginny reached the battle, everything had changed. Sirius was nowhere to be seen and Moody was now duelling with Professor Dumbledore and Tonks. More importantly, the changes meant that Moody now had his back to Ginny. _He must have forgotten that I'm here!_ Ginny thought with delight.

Reacting instinctively, Ginny raised her wand and sent a Stunner towards him. It struck him between his shoulder blades and he crumpled to the floor.

Ginny decided to keep herself hidden, she didn't know why Professor Dumbledore or Tonks were here and she didn't know what they had done with Sirius.

She saw Tonks and Professor Dumbledore holding a conversation as they stared down at the unconscious Moody. Suddenly she heard Professor Dumbledore do something very uncharacteristic. He gasped!

"Polyjuice!" Tonks exclaimed loudly.

"So it seems," Professor Dumbledore replied and he began moving his wand around the room in a large circle. Ginny felt her stomach sink when he paused with his wand pointing in her direction. "Come on out!" Professor Dumbledore shouted.

Ginny slowly and reluctantly walked out towards the doorway where Tonks and Professor Dumbledore were standing. She could now see Sirius. He was slumped, presumably unconscious, against one of the shelves. As she walked, Ginny shook herself, feeling small shards of glass falling from her clothes.

"Ginny!" Tonks exclaimed. "What in Merlin's name are you doing here?"

"Miss Weasley, where is..." Professor Dumbledore paused. "Where is Harry?"

"P-Portkey," Ginny stammered. Now that fight was over, she suddenly felt incredibly tired. She choked back a sob when she thought about Adam. "The Prophecy was a Portkey."

Professor Dumbledore exhaled a long and slow breath, his head lowered briefly and his shoulders sank. Then quickly he straightened himself.

"Nymphadora, take Crouch into custody. I will return with Severus and some Veritaserum, we will need to question him. Ginny, you and Sirius need to come back to Hogwarts with me immediately."

Ginny watched as Tonks immediately wrapped the fake Moody in ropes and withdrew a small item from her pocket. She placed it on his chest and suddenly he vanished.

"I've sent him to the cells for now," Tonks said.

"Thank you," Albus sighed. "Keep watch on him. Do not let anyone question him until I arrive."

"Ginny," Professor Dumbledore questioned once Tonks had left. "The Prophecy, what happened to it?"

"I have one," Ginny replied, shakily. "Do you know what's happened to Adam?"

"There was more than one?"

"The second one took him away!" Ginny said. She began to feel the onset of tears. She wanted Adam back! "What's happened to him!"

"Can you give the Prophecy to me, Ginny?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Ginny slowly withdrew the glass globe and handed it to the Professor. Taking it from her, he strode over to the shelf where the two Prophecies had rested and waved his wand around the area.

"Come, Ginny, let us get you and Sirius back to Hogwarts," he said softly as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"No!" Ginny exclaimed. Why was no-one telling her anything! "I want to know what's happened to Adam."

"Ginny..." Professor Dumbledore said gently, lowering himself so their eyes were level. "He's been kidnapped. I need to get you back to Hogwarts where it is safe. It seems that the Alastor Moody that has been teaching all year at school was an impostor. I don't know who else was working with him, but I promise that I will not rest until Adam has been rescued."

Professor Dumbledore led her across to where Sirius was currently slumped, there were several broken prophecies scattered on the floor around him. He waved his wand over Sirius' body and his eyes immediately flew open.

"Albus?" he exclaimed.

"Sirius," Professor Dumbledore replied. "Take hold of this Portkey, you too, Ginny."

"P-Portkey?" Ginny asked.

"This will take you back to Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore replied.

Professor Dumbledore withdrew a quill from his robes, he waved his wand over it and it glowed a blue colour for a second. Ginny and Sirius both grabbed hold of the quill. Ginny felt a jerking sensation and then she crashed to the floor in Professor Dumbledore's office.

As she sat there on the floor of the Headmaster's office, it all became too much and Ginny felt tears welling up in her eyes. Quickly, as if sensing her distress, Sirius cross the room, pulled her to her feet and wrapped her in a hug.

"He..." Ginny choked out. "He's gone."

"I know, Ginny," Sirius replied. "But we'll get him back. We will."

"Ginny," Professor Dumbledore added, in a tone that seemed to somehow sooth her. "Adam has been kidnapped. The second Prophecy was a Portkey. I am going back to the Ministry shortly to question the impostor. Once I've done that we should have some idea where he's been taken. We will then mount a rescue mission but, for now, I think you should head to bed. I will come and find you in the morning. Try to get some rest," Professor Dumbledore looked her right in the eyes. "I promise you I will do everything in my power to get him back."

Before she could object that she wanted to be involved, Professor Dumbledore ushered Ginny out of the office and closed the door behind her.

She stood numbly at the top of the staircase, feeling completely lost. _What would she do without Adam?_ Then she felt a surge of anger at Professor Dumbledore and Sirius. _Surely she had a right to know what was happening to Adam? Surely she should be involved in the rescue?_

Ginny lent up against the wall and slowly sank to the floor as she felt her strength leaving her. She could vaguely hear raised voices from inside the Headmaster's office, but it didn't seem important. Nothing seemed important other than the fact that Adam was gone. Fed up of holding it all in she gave in completely to her emotions and let herself cry.

**June 16th 1996**

Ginny awoke late the next morning. Thankfully, her room mates had already left. She sat up, feeling despair well up inside her as she remembered the events of last night.

"Oh, Adam," she sniffled. She wondered where he was now. _Was he hurt?_

A few minutes later, Ginny frantically dried her tears with a tissue from the box that she kept at her bedside. She needed to collect herself if she was to face the school. She was strong! She could do this.

Once Ginny had achieved some measure of composure, she walked gingerly down into the common room. To her relief the room was largely empty. She couldn't deal with questions right now. Feeling nothing but a terrible aching numbness inside, she left the common room and made her way to Professor Dumbledore's office. Ginny didn't want any food. She needed to know if Professor Dumbledore had found Adam.

When she reached the stone Gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office, she simply stared at it. She had no idea what the password was. As it turned out, she didn't need the password. A few seconds later the Gargoyle slid aside, so she walked up the stairs and entered the office.

"Come in, Ginny," Professor Dumbledore said. He sounded very tired.

"Have you found him?" Ginny asked desperately.

"I am afraid not," Professor Dumbledore replied sadly. "The Portkey took him out of the Ministry. Where it took him we don't know."

"What about Moody?" Ginny spat. "He'll know."

Professor Dumbledore sighed. "The Ministry... they had him Kissed. He won't be able to tell us anything," Professor Dumbledore began to pace. "Our one useful lead!" he said, sounding furious.

Ginny let out a strangled sob.

"Ginny," Professor Dumbledore said softly, turning back to face her. "We will find him. I have called a meeting of an organisation that I run for circumstances like this. There will be many people looking for him."

Ginny just stared at Dumbledore, desperately trying to stop herself from wallowing in despair. She had to keep trying to look on the bright side. With lots of people looking, he would be found soon.

Professor Dumbledore paused. "I wanted to ask you a question, Ginny. We have to decide what we will tell everyone. When I send people out searching, I will have to tell them about Harry Potter, but it may be possible to cover up Adam's disappearance. Do you think he would want that?"

"That's what he would want," Ginny replied confidently, feeling slightly strengthened now there was a plan. A search, she could help. She would search night and day until Adam was found.

"Take a seat," Professor Dumbledore said kindly. "I'll have a house-elf bring us up some breakfast and we can work on a cover story."

**June 17th 1996**

The next morning when Ginny awoke, she went immediately to Professor Dumbledore's office to see if there was any news.  
However, this morning his office was locked. The Headmaster wasn't there.

Grateful that he appeared to be out searching, but feeling annoyed that he wasn't here to tell her if there was any news, Ginny trudged to the Great Hall where she sat down on her own to eat breakfast.

She wasn't alone for long and had to hide a groan when Hermione sat down next to her. She _really _didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Hi, Ginny," Hermione said brightly.

"Hi," Ginny mumbled back and carried on eating her breakfast.

"Ginny," Hermione began. "Where's Adam? No one's seen him for over a day."

"Professor Dumbledore has taken him out of school," Ginny answered in a dull tone. Giving the cover story that Professor Dumbledore had developed.

"Why?"

"They think they've found some relatives of his," Ginny continued numbly. She wasn't going to cry. Not here, not in front of Hermione.

Hermione smiled brightly at this news. "That's wonderful news! When will he be back?"

Ginny sighed. "Don't know. Professor Dumbledore said he may stay there for a while."

"Why didn't he tell anyone?" Hermione asked.

"You know how he is about his past," Ginny replied, repeating the rehearsed lie. "And Professor Dumbledore kind of sprung it on him."

"You miss him, don't you?" Hermione asked.

"Of course I do!" Ginny snapped back angrily. _Didn't Hermione realise that she was worried sick and missing him more than anything?_

"Is everything alright, Ginny?" Hermione asked. Ginny could see Hermione was watching her intently.

"I'm fine, Hermione," Ginny lied. "Actually, I need to go."

Ginny grabbed her school bag and, leaving her half-finished breakfast, she dashed out of the Great Hall.

Once she was out of the Great Hall, she slumped up against the wall and took deep breaths, trying to collect herself. Everywhere she went, she went without Adam. All her classes she would have to sit on her own, _without Adam_. She would have to spend her free time, _without Adam_.

_Come on Ginny. You can do this. You're strong._

Ginny stood up slightly straighter and began walking towards his first class of the day.

**June 18th 1996**

_Mum,_

_I'm just writing to tell you that Adam won't be coming home with us from school. Professor Dumbledore has found a lead on some distant family of his in Ireland and he will be spending some time there. Professor Dumbledore says he should be back during the summer though. Remus Lupin has gone with him to look after him and make sure he is safe. So you don't need to worry about him._

_Love,  
Ginny  
_  
Ginny threw her quill down. She knew that Mum would want to hear about Adam's 'trip' from her. Professor Dumbledore had told her that she needed to write a letter to her mother, but she just hadn't been able to face doing it until now. Somehow putting down on paper that Adam wouldn't be coming home with her made it seem more real.

_Stop it!_

She had tried desperately to stop feeling sick with worry. It hadn't worked. Scarcely a minute went by when she didn't think about Adam. Her boyfriend, her best friend. She couldn't manage without him.

_Stop it!_ _You'll make yourself ill. You can't help Adam if you make yourself sick!_

She had to be strong. She needed to keep his secret for him and once she got out of school for the summer, she was going to do everything in her power to find him, even if she had to sneak away from home. She had his cloak. Professor Dumbledore had taken all of Adam's things to add to the illusion that he had gone away, but she still had the cloak.

Ginny sighed and stood up from the small table in her room. The letter was written, she would post it tomorrow. Ginny couldn't face the common room right now so she put on her pyjamas and began getting ready for bed. If she was lucky she would be able to get a decent night's sleep.

**June 22nd 1996**

The trip home on the Hogwarts express was excruciating for Ginny. Hermione had smiled kindly at her and insisted she ride in the compartment with her, Ron and Neville. However, by the time they were an hour out of Hogsmeade, the conversation had dried up. _That never happened with Adam._ Ginny thought bitterly.

So Ginny just sat there, her face pressed against the window as she watched the countryside pass in a blur of colour.

It had been exactly a week since Adam had been kidnapped.

During the week, she had been to see Professor Dumbledore at least twice every day. Sometimes he was there, sometimes not. The last time she had seen him had been yesterday. He still had no news about Adam.

His organisation had been searching, but they had not found anything yet. Ginny didn't know where they had been searching and when she had questioned Dumbledore, he had said that they were searching the homes of people that would want to harm Harry if they knew about him.

She knew he wasn't telling her the full story and it made her incredibly angry. Even Sirius hadn't been in contact with her and Ginny now felt as if everyone had abandoned her.

Ginny had decided that once she got back to The Burrow, she would get in contact with either Sirius or Dumbledore and find out one way or another what was happening. If she didn't like what they told her, she would go out looking for Adam herself.

"We're nearly there," Ron announced some time later, disturbing her from her thoughts.

Ginny examined the blurred scenery more closely. It was now buildings rather than countryside. Yes, they were nearly there.

Ron, Hermione and Neville had hardly spoken to her on the journey home, which Ginny was secretly glad about. She didn't want to talk to them. Ron had tried to get her to play chess several hours ago but Ginny had refused. She didn't want to play chess with Ron.

"Ron's asked me to come and visit during the summer," Hermione said, as they packed up their things ready to leave the train. "So I guess I'll see you then?"

"Sure," replied Ginny without enthusiasm.

"I wonder what chores Mum's got lined up for us," Ron said lightly.

"I've no idea," Ginny replied shortly.

The train was now pulling into the station, slowing as it came to a stop at the platform. Once it had stopped, she got off and set about retrieving her trunk. Ron and Hermione followed her off the train and Ron made a show of helping Hermione with her trunk.

Ginny stared around the platform as Hermione hugged her good-bye. Then Hermione left, with Ron carrying her trunk, walking through the barrier towards where Mr and Mrs Granger were waiting. Presumably Ron wanted to ask about her coming to visit.

Neville soon left to go and meet his Gran. He waved goodbye and Ginny listlessly waved back.

Ginny looked around the station again. She could feel the crowds of Hogwarts students moving around her as she stood still on the platform. She easily picked out her mother standing near the barrier that lead back to Muggle Kings Cross.

Sighing, Ginny picked up her trunk and made her way over to her mum. Despite everything, she did feel happy to be home and to be able see her parents.

"Ginny!" Her mum exclaimed when she saw her, wrapping her in a hug, and Ginny enjoyed, for a minute, just being hugged. "How are you doing?"

"I..." Ginny began, in a strained tone. "I-I'm fine, Mum."

Her mum smiled knowingly at her and continued in a softer voice. "I received your letter, Ginny," she began. "And I understand that you're missing him."

"I..." Ginny began, desperately trying to keep emotion from her voice.

"I was very angry that Albus didn't even consult us about it," Mum continued. "I know that technically Adam isn't one us..."

"He is!" Ginny snapped back.

"Ginny!" Mum scolded her. "What I was going to say is even though Adam technically isn't one of us, I do consider him one of the family and I think that Albus should have asked us before just taking Adam out of school."

Ginny could only nod in response.

"Anyway," Mum replied. "I do think we're going to have plenty to keep you occupied over the summer until Adam gets back."

"What?" Ginny asked. There was no way she could concentrate on anything else until Adam was found.

"Well," Mum replied, lowering her voice. "Professor Dumbledore has asked me and your father to help out by joining an organisation of his and we're going to be staying in their Headquarters for a few weeks."

At this news, Ginny felt a smile forming on her face. If they were at the Headquarters then she could really do something to help Adam!

"Oh, I'm glad you're not upset that we're not going back to The Burrow," Mum continued, picking up on Ginny's smile. "I wasn't sure how you were all going to take it."

"It's fine, Mum," Ginny replied. "I don't think the twins will like it though."

"Well," Mum responded. "They don't have any choice. Anyway, we need to get moving. Let's go and collect your brothers."

Ginny walked towards the barrier with her mother, but, even though she was now with her family, she still felt alone without Adam.  
_  
_ _We'll get him back!_ Ginny thought determinedly, as she dragged her trunk through the barrier. _No matter what I have to do, or how long it takes._


End file.
